Supreme Court highlights facts of 'eyeopener case', saves POCSO convict from jail citing marriage to survivor

'The society judged her, the legal system failed her and her own family abandoned her. Now she is at a stage where she is desperate to save her husband, she is emotionally committed to the accused', the bench observed

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday spared a convict from sentence under the POCSO Act on the ground that the survivor who was 14 years old at the time of the offence in 2018, did not treat it as heinous crime, and both have married and she became mother of his child.

Finding that "facts of the case are eyeopener for everyone" and highlighted the "lacuna in our legal system," a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said, "If we send the accused to jail, the worst sufferer will be the victim herself."

Using its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution, the bench said, true justice lies in not sentencing the accused to undergo imprisonment.

The court, however, clarified, this case is not going to be a precedent and should not be a precedent.

In its judgment arising out a suo motu matter registered after the Calcutta High Court advised adolescent girls to observe restraint in sexual relations, the bench focused on the plight of the girl.

"The society judged her, the legal system failed her and her own family abandoned her. Now she is at a stage where she is desperate to save her husband, she is emotionally committed to the accused and has become very possessive about her small family. The facts of the case are eyeopener for everyone. It highlights the lacuna in our legal system," the court said.

The High Court's in its ruling that had asked adolescent girls to "control" their sexual urges instead of "giving in to two minutes of pleasure".

Justice Oka, who authored the judgment for the bench, said what troubled the court was the issue of sentencing.

"Though the victim did not treat the incident as heinous crime, she suffered because of it. This was because at an earlier stage, the victim could not make an informed choice due to the shortcomings in our society, our legal system and in her family," the court said.

Noting the victim, who had given birth to a child, herself is desperate to save her husband and family, the court refrained from sentencing the convict under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act.

Earlier, in December 2023, the SC had taken suo motu coginzance of the case, and said that the comments made by the High Court were sweeping, objectionable, irrelevant, preachy and unwarranted.

West Bengal government had also challenged the High Court decision to acquit the accused. The top court quashed the High Court order in August 2024 and restored the conviction. It also appointed experts committee to interact with the victim.

The top court had then delayed the decision on sentencing of the convict, as it was waiting for the report of a committee constituted to help the victim make an informed choice about her future.

In its 44-page judgment, the court ordered the West Bengal government to act as a true guardian of the victim and her child; provide a better shelter to the victim and her family within a period of few months, bear the entire expenditure of the education of the victim till Xth standard examination and if she desires to take up education for a degree course, till the completion of degree course.