CHENNAI: Finding clear violation of the procedures of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act by the Greater Chennai Police in holding investigations into the rape of a minor school girl, the Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The court slammed the police for being insensitive to the nature of the offence, the ill-treatment of the victim and her parents by a woman inspector, as well as the delay in arresting the accused.
The order for the CBI probe was passed by a division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam while disposing of a suo motu case and a habeas corpus petition (HCP) filed by the mother of the nine-and-a-half year old victim who has been studying in Class V.
Commenting that the manner, in which, the criminal case was registered and the conduct of the investigation, raised “serious doubts and suspicion”, the bench said the court endorses the victim’s side contention of having lost the confidence in the police over a fair probe.
“We have no option but to transfer the present investigation from the state police to the Central Bureau of Investigation,” the bench said in the order.
Remarking that the court cannot conduct a “roving inquiry” with regard to the disputed facts placed by victim and prosecution sides, the bench said, “We have arrived at an irresistible conclusion that the entire case is to be transferred to the CBI for continuing the investigation and initiate all appropriate action in the manner known to law.”
The bench said the action of the police in the case is violative of the procedures as contemplated and established under the POCSO Act, particularly Section 24 and it severely criticised the police for recording the statement of the victim by keeping her near the hospital in the absence of her mother and not arresting the accused even after the accident register (AR) of the hospital had details of the accused.
FIR against YouTuber and Journalist
Referring to the submission of the State Public Prosecutor (State PP) Hasan Mohamed Jinnah that separate FIRs have been registered against YouTuber Maridhas and journalist A Selvaraj for sharing the victim’s audio on the social media, the bench said the police shall find out the root cause for leakage of the victim’s audio and nab the real accused person involved in disclosing and sharing the audio to any other person.
Registration of cases against YouTubers and journalists is not in consonance with the democratic principles enunciated in the Constitution, it stated.
The bench also questioned why the woman inspector who had recorded the audio was not booked in the case. The court also ordered the police to provide protection to the victim and her family. Advocate R Sampath Kumar appeared for the victim’s mother.