MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has asked special courts for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cases not to reveal the identity of child abuse victims in depositions and orders.
A division bench comprising Justices R Subramanian and N Sathish Kumar made the remark while confirming the conviction of a 70-year-old man found guilty of sexually assaulting his nephew’s seven-year-old daughter in 2018.
Ruling on the man’s appeal against his conviction, the bench said the trial court had recorded the victim’s name in the deposition form during judgment and while recording evidence. “Section 33 of sub-clause (7) of POCSO Act makes it mandatory for the special court not to disclose the identity of the child during the trial. Trial courts must be cautious of this in future and adhere to the provisions,” the bench said.
Regarding the convict’s appeal, the judges refused to accept the contention of the accused’s counsel that one of the witnesses — maternal aunt of the victim — had falsely implicated the accused with an ulterior motive. The judges pointed out that the child had clearly described the nature of offence committed by the accused, who is none other than the victim’s father’s maternal uncle.
Though the HC upheld the man’s conviction by the trial court, it said the accused was punished as per the amendment introduced to the Act in 2019 though the incident happened in 2018 and modified his life
imprisonment to 10-year jail term.