Mumbai: POCSO Court Calls Out 'Victim’s Character Assassination' In Sexual Assault Case

Condemning the allegation that the girl implicated her father as he was opposed to her affair, a special court rejected the man's bail plea, who is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the victim when she had turned 14 years old. The court, designated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, termed the accusation as the “victim’s character assassination which needs to be deprecated in the strongest possible terms”.

Pointing out loopholes in the affair story forwarded by the father's advocate, the court pointed out that the petitioner has not been able to name the boy. It also said that incidents of sexual assault happened during the lockdown as per the police complaint. Hence, it's difficult to believe that the victim would have established such a relationship with a boy during that time. The court further said there is nothing before it to indicate the fact of the relationship.

Minor's complaints ignored

The minor had complained of five-six instances of sexual assault during lockdown. The last incident happened in the morning on the birthday of the accused. The father’s advocate had pointed out that on that day, the victim had brought a cake for him and celebrated his birthday. He showed photographs in which the teen is seen smiling. He contended that hence her allegations of being sexually assaulted on that same morning are “unbelievable”.

Special Judge SJ Ansari said that based on the mere facts of the victim having brought a cake for her father's birthday and being seen smiling in the photographs, it's not sufficient to contend that she had made false allegations. “It is also required to be noted that not that all victims of rape are always morose and downcast 24 hours in a day. This is because every human being has their own mechanism for dealing with the traumatic situations faced by them in their life. It will also have to be noted that it is the accused who has to explain his conduct and not the victim of rape as that will amount to rubbing salt in her wounds,” remarked judge Ansari.

Court's observations

The court observed that the victim was barely 14 years of age at the time of alleged sexual assaults and was unable to say to her mother as she knew that all hell would break loose if she did so. It also noted that the charge-sheet showed the victim had been helpless and did things deviating from normal behaviour. “The sexual assaults would have obviously frustrated her to the extent of her trying to find some relief by leaving her home,” the order read.