POCSO case quashed in ‘victim’s interest’

The Madras High Court has quashed a case booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, because the victim, a boy who was hardly a few days away from attaining majority, did not want to pursue the case as it would affect his studies and his future career.

Justice P.N. Prakash quashed the case after questioning the victim in-camera and finding that the accused, an auto-rickshaw driver, had not even touched the boy and that only an attempt had been made to lure the minor into sexual acts by showing sex videos and his private parts.

“In view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case, this court is of the view that interests of justice will be served if the prosecution is quashed in view of the settlement arrived at between the parties, and also bearing in mind the request made by the victim to give a quietus to the issue,” the judge observed. The orders were passed on a criminal original petition filed by the accused to quash the case booked against him on the basis of a compromise reached between him and the victim’s family.

During an in-camera interaction, the boy told the judge that that his family had decided to bury the hatchet in the interest of his studies.