ORDER :

1. Petitioners herein are accused nos. 2 and 3 in Crime No. 422/2019 of Alappuzha South Police Station, which is now pending before the Special Court under the POCSO Act, Alappuzha as S.C. No. 666/2020. The petitioners seek quashment of the said crime on various counts. The offences alleged are under Section 21(1), read with Section 19 of the POCSO Act, 2012.

2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Public Prosecutor on behalf of the respondents. Perused the records.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioners submit that for attracting the offence under Section 21(1) of the POCSO Act, there should be failure on the part of the person/accused to report the commission of offence as enjoined by Section 19 of the POCSO Act. Referring to Section 19, learned counsel would submit that there is no mandate that such crime shall be reported forthwith. In the instant case, the incident occurred on 07.03.2019 and the same was reported by the petitioners (accused nos. 2 and 3) on 11.03.2019. There was neither any failure to report the incident; nor was there any serious delay in such reporting. Therefore, the offences sought to be canvassed against the petitioners will