Bengaluru: While sexual harassment cases against minors are often treated with great seriousness, allegations in certain cases turn out to be baseless due to a lack of a proper age determination process, Karnataka High Court Judge G Basavaraja said on Saturday.
Addressing Surgeons on POCSO Issues
Addressing members of the Surgical Society of Bangalore, he said: “In many POCSO cases I have come across in appeals and also as a sessions judge, I have found that the patient, who came for delivery and at the time of giving history, stated that her age was 17 years. Immediately, doctors informed police and the child development officer.”
He said at the Surgeons’ Day event that on receiving information from the medical practitioner, a case gets registered against the accused under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, resulting in a minimum sentence of 20 years. He warned the surgeons that, without determining the age scientifically, it is not appropriate to inform police.
Statistical Context
Justice Basavaraja’s statement comes at a time when Karnataka reported the fourth-highest POCSO cases (3,278) in a year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau 2024 report. Of 1,145 POCSO survivors in the state (boys and girls), 1,041 belong to the age category of 12-16.
Legal Provisions on Age Determination
Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice Act contemplates that the age of the survivor has to be proved by the prosecution. “If the survivor or the parents or guardians have produced a birth certificate or SSLC certificate, then we can write the age accordingly. But in many cases, there is no document on the date of birth”, Justice Basavaraja said.
He clarified that while an offence is committed regardless of consent if the survivor is a minor, the same does not apply once she has attained majority. Consequently, if the sexual act is consensual after majority, it does not fall under the definition of Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code.
Instances of False Convictions
The judge pointed out: “Recently, I have acquitted four to five (people in) cases in which, without ascertaining the age of the victim, police and the concerned medical officer have intimated the CDPO and police.”
Citing one such recent case, Justice Basavaraja revealed that the man was falsely convicted. “The apex court has held in many decisions that in POCSO cases, it is the duty of the prosecution to prove that as on the date of commission of events, the prosecution has to prove that the victim was a child…. through an ossification test (bone age test),” he explained.
