NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has criticised the police for showing “total disinterest” in taking action against a 16-year-old POCSO case complainant for “blatantly lying” during the trial, after she denied the alleged rape.
Justice Girish Kathpalia, while granting bail to the 37-year-old accused, observed that investigating and prosecuting agencies routinely blame hostile witnesses for acquittals but rarely take action against them.
In an order passed on October 16, the court noted that the complainant flatly denied the alleged rape before the trial court and claimed she never appeared before a judge to record her statement. The judge termed the latter claim a “blatant lie” that contradicted the record.
The accused approached the High Court, arguing that the complainant turned “completely hostile to the prosecution case and said that nothing at all happened to her”.
The judge observed that this was not a case in which the complainant claimed to have been in a consensual relationship with the accused. Instead, she had “flatly denied the alleged incident in its entirety” in her testimony.
“It is not just the testimony of the prosecutrix being a blatant lie and hostile to prosecution, but also the total disinterest exhibited by prosecution to take appropriate action, which at this stage would convey to this court that the entire prosecution case was prima facie false and the accused/ applicant suffered illegal confinement in custody. Despite such apparent perjury, the IO (investigating officer) opted not to take any action against the prosecutrix,” the judge said.
The court also noted that although the prosecution had earlier informed it that the State was considering legal action against the complainant for providing false information to a public servant, an offence punishable under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, no action was ultimately taken.
Emphasising that the objective of a criminal trial is to “arrive at the truth” based on evidence, the judge said the criminal justice system was often criticised for low conviction rates, particularly in cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, yet no action was taken against hostile witnesses.
According to the FIR, the accused, 37, allegedly repeatedly raped his 16-year-old neighbour.
