BENGALURU: Rejecting the contention of an accused that the statement of the minor victim of sexual assault cannot be given credence and her evidence in cross-examination should be discarded because she is mentally unsound, the Karnataka High Court refused to quash the criminal proceedings initiated him.
The 48-year-old man from Tumakuru district was booked for allegedly sexual assaulting a 13-year-old mentally ill girl.
“The victim identified the petitioner and narrated, though not in minute detail, about the acts of the petitioner,” said Justice M Nagaprasanna while recently rejecting the petition filed by accused Krishnappa against the ongoing criminal proceedings against him under the provisions of IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. At the same time, the court directed the trial court to conclude the proceedings within an outer limit of three months, if not earlier.
The court observed that considering quashing of the proceedings would become a travesty of law as the petitioner has indulged in sexual perversion beyond the bounds of maturity and sanity.
The behaviour of the petitioner cannot but be described to be a paraphiliac, albeit, prima facie. It is not understandable as to how the petitioner seeks quashing of the proceedings basing his foundation on the score of stray answers of a mentally ill child in her cross-examination, the court said.
According to the complaint, on December 10, 2023, the girl was playing in front of the house at 3.15 pm. After around 30 minutes, her mother noticed that her daughter was missing.
The woman went in search of her daughter and saw the latter coming out of the house of the petitioner holding her shirt and pant in her hand.
When the mother enquired with her daughter, she was informed that the petitioner on the pretext of giving her sugarcane had taken her to the bathroom of his house and committed sexual assault on her.
The woman did not immediately complain as she was apprehensive of her reputation or her daughter’s reputation being damaged. But, when the daughter went on repeatedly complaining of experiencing pain in in her private parts, the complainant registered the crime on December 21, 2023.