The court emphasized the need for legislative amendments to address cases involving adolescents in relationships and the importance of considering individual/personal nature of offences in deciding to quash criminal proceedings.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 of Criminal Procedure Code, to call for the records pending on the file of the learned Sessions Judge, Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Cases POCSO Act, Chennai in Spl. S.C.No.88 of 2021 and quash the criminal proceedings.)

1. This Criminal Original Petition has been filed to quash the proceedings in Spl. S.C.No.88 of 2021 on the file of the learned Sessions Judge, Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Cases POCSO Act, Chennai for the offences under sections 365, 366, 366[A] of IPC and Section 6 of POCSO Act.

2. The allegations against the petitioner is that the petitioner had kidnapped the daughter of the defacto complainant, who is aged about 17 years and married her.

3. The petitioner filed an affidavit before this Court to the effect that the petitioner and the victim girl got married and are living together and the second respondent, who is the mother of the victim has also accepted them and hence, submitted that the proceedings against the petitioner may be quashed.

4. The parties have been identified by their respective counsels.

5. The Defacto Complainant and the victim girl were also present before this Court at the time of hearing. This Court examined the victim girl and she stated that there was a love affair between herself and the petitioner and that she is not willing to undergo this agony any further and wanted the criminal proceedings to be quashed.

6. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing on behalf of the first respondent submitted that though the parties entered into a compromise while this case is pending, this Court, taking into account the seriousness of the offence has to consider the issue as to whether an offence of this nature can be quashed on the ground of compromise between parties.

7. In this regard it is relevant to refer the judgment of the learned Single Judge of this Court, in Sabari v. Inspector of Police reported in 2019 (3) MLJ Crl 110, wherein the learned single Judge had discussed in detail about the cases in which persons of the age group of 16 to 18 years are involved in love affairs and how in some cases ultimately end up in a criminal case booked for an offence under the POSCO Act. The relevant portions of the judgment are extracted here under for proper appreciation:

“21. When this case was taken up for hearing, this Court became concerned about the growing incidence of offences under the POCSO Act on one side and also the Rigorous Imprisonment envisaged in the Act. Sometimes it happens that such offences are slapped against teenagers, who fall victim of the application of the POCSO Act at an young age without understanding the implication of the severity of the enactment.

26. In addition to the above, this Court is of the view that 'warning' of attraction of POCSO Act must be displayed before screening of any film, which have teenage characters suggesting relationship between boy and girl.

27. Apart from the above, this Court is of the view that as per the 3rd respondent's report, majority of cases are due to relationship between adolescent boys and girls. Though under Section 2(d) of the Act, 'Child' is defined as a person below the age of 18 years and in case of any love affair between a girl and a boy, where the girl happened to be 16 or 17 years old, either in the school final or entering the college, the relationship invariably assumes the penal character by subjecting the boy to the rigorous of POCSO Act. Once the age of the girl is established in such relationship as below 18 years, the boy involved in the relationship is sure to be sentenced 7 years or 10 years as minimum imprisonment, as the case may be.

28. When the girl below 18 years is involved in a relationship with the teen age boy or little over the teen age, it is always a question mark as to how such relationship could be defined, though such relationship would be the result of mutual innocence and biological attraction. Such re