2015 minor rape case: Bombay HC praises police for ‘remarkable job’, commends trial judge; upholds POCSO – Times of India

MUMBAI: Praising police in Sindhudurg for an example-setting swift probe as a “feat and a rarity”, the Bombay high court upheld a 2016 conviction and 12-year sentence of a man in a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) case for raping a seven-year-old in 2015.
“Courts must strive to ensure that cases do not fall prey to slow motion syndrome which is lethal to administration of justice, whatever the ultimate outcome. If cases are investigated with diligence and alacrity, perpetrators can be brought to book,” said Justice Revati Mohite Dere in a March 3 judgment in a 2017 appeal.
“Speedy justice is a component of social justice,” she said, since society is concerned in seeing the guilty punished and the innocent accused, absolved.
The HC judgement uploaded on March 31 also directed that the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) must complete formalities and award compensation to the girl, if not already done, within six months of its order.
Section 357-A(2) of Criminal procedure code requires the state to provide for a victim compensation scheme for their rehabilitation and DLSA has to fix the amount.
Saying that the police did a “remarkable job” and so did the trial court prosecutor, with cooperation from the defence lawyer, the HC also said it was “indeed commendable” that Special court met the mandate of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) by completing trial within a year.
“Probably, this case can be used as an ‘ideal case’, by the police, on how an investigation can be done,’’ said the HC.
The “promptness with which the investigation was done’’ said the HC, was evident from the fact that the “sexual assault took place on the intervening night of 30th September 2015 and 1st October 2015 between 10 – 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m’’, the police reached the spot immediately on being alerted, had the girl medically examined at 2 am, registered the FIR at 4 am, sent her clothes for analysis after drawing the spot panchanama at 11.30 am and three hours later arrested the accused. On October 3, the police held the test identification parade too.
The convict had kidnapped the girl from her parents sleeping at station and taken her to a forest nearby where he committed the crime, said the HC. She returned to the platform and informed her parents who told the station master who immediately called the police.
The HC noted that the girl withstood the cross-examination by defence lawyer during trial. Justice Mohite Dere said there was nothing on record to discredit her deposition.
The HC said “merely because” employer of the appellant (convict) who took the girl to the hospital, “was not examined, doesn’t in any way cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution case’’ when all relevant witnesses were examined and the child’s statement is corroborated by medical evidence.