KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court returned a man to prison recently for sexually abusing a girl in Bengal’s Midnapore in April 2014, relying on the survivor’s testimony that she had given when she was seven. A lower court had set him free based on the same testimony, which it said was a “tutored” account by her parents.
Ordering the lower court to send the man, now around 30, to jail, the HC said the survivor, who is now 15, could not be faulted for a shoddy probe. It also asked the trial court to hear the accused before his sentencing by January 31.
The HC said the parents (her father is a police officer and mother a student of international law) had every right to “guide” their child through the traumatic experience. The court has also asked for the survivor to be paid Rs 1 lakh as compensation in a month.
Back in 2014, the girl’s testimony was pivotal because of the lack of corroborative evidence. Among those who testified in court were her parents and the investigating officer. The other witness either pleaded ignorance or did not corroborate the facts.
Police chose not to even question her three friends and neighbours, who were with her when the crime happened. Even the doctor told the court that he had not found evidence of any “forceful” sexual abuse. The trial court also faulted her father for delayed filing of the complaint. In 2015, it acquitted the accused.
Last Friday, the HC said the trial court “blew out of proportion” the fact that the girl’s parents were present when she was examined in court. It said the Pocso law makes it mandatory for the child’s parents—and in their absence, someone they trust—to always be with them in courts.
“The child was guided by her parents and not tutored by them; and under the scheme of the act, the parents are entitled to guide the child,” said Justice Siddhartha Roy Chowdhury.
The trial court “ought not to have disbelieved the testimony of the child on the ground that she was guided by her parents and that a statement was made under their instructions,” the HC said.
Justice Chowdhury said one should remember that the survivor, in this case a child, “would never forget those events for the rest of her life”. The traumatised survivor still undergoes regular counselling for depression and other mental health issues.
Ordering the lower court to send the man, now around 30, to jail, the HC said the survivor, who is now 15, could not be faulted for a shoddy probe. It also asked the trial court to hear the accused before his sentencing by January 31.
The HC said the parents (her father is a police officer and mother a student of international law) had every right to “guide” their child through the traumatic experience. The court has also asked for the survivor to be paid Rs 1 lakh as compensation in a month.
Back in 2014, the girl’s testimony was pivotal because of the lack of corroborative evidence. Among those who testified in court were her parents and the investigating officer. The other witness either pleaded ignorance or did not corroborate the facts.
Police chose not to even question her three friends and neighbours, who were with her when the crime happened. Even the doctor told the court that he had not found evidence of any “forceful” sexual abuse. The trial court also faulted her father for delayed filing of the complaint. In 2015, it acquitted the accused.
Last Friday, the HC said the trial court “blew out of proportion” the fact that the girl’s parents were present when she was examined in court. It said the Pocso law makes it mandatory for the child’s parents—and in their absence, someone they trust—to always be with them in courts.
“The child was guided by her parents and not tutored by them; and under the scheme of the act, the parents are entitled to guide the child,” said Justice Siddhartha Roy Chowdhury.
The trial court “ought not to have disbelieved the testimony of the child on the ground that she was guided by her parents and that a statement was made under their instructions,” the HC said.
Justice Chowdhury said one should remember that the survivor, in this case a child, “would never forget those events for the rest of her life”. The traumatised survivor still undergoes regular counselling for depression and other mental health issues.
