- In the case of Hiralal Dhruve vs The State of Madhya Pradesh and ors. the Madhya Pradesh HC has refused to interfere with the charge framed against an Advocate under POCSO Act for allegedly ill-advising the prosecutrix and the accused to not disclose the true facts to the police as well as the trial Court.
- In this case, a criminal revision petition had been filed by the applicant who was aggrieved by the order of the trial Court, by which he was charged for an offence punishable under section 19 and 21 of the POCSO Act.
- It is important to note that section 19 of the impugned Act casts a duty upon any person who comes to know that an offence under POCSO has been committed or is likely to be committed to convey the same to the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police. Section 21 of the Act provides for the punishment for failure to report the case.
- The applicant Advocate argued before the HC that he had done nothing wrong and that it was his job to advise his client so that they can put up a strong defence. He submitted that no case was made out against him and that the trial Court had failed to appreciate the same.
- The Counsel for the State, on the other hand, argued that the statements of the prosecutrix under sections 161 and 164 of CrPC clearly show that the applicant had advised/tutored her to make a false statement before the trial Court that the accused had not committed the said offence. It was also alleged that he had told the accused not to state the true facts before the trial Court.
- While dismissing the revision petition, the HC observed that after considering the statements of the prosecutrix and the provisions of section 19 and 21 of the POCSO Act, there is no infirmity in the order passed by the trial Court.
- The Court observed that section 19 of the Act clearly provides that as soon as a person receives the information that an offence under POCSO has been committed, he should convey the same to the authorities. Instead, what the applicant did is that he ill-advised the prosecutrix. Thus, an offence has been rightly registered against him.
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