The Act of 2012 is a special statute designed to protect children from sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography, and proceedings under this Act cannot be quashed based on a compromise between the accused and the victim.

JUDGMENT :

1. This application has been filed seeking to quash the proceedings of Special Sessions Trial No. 71 of 2018 (arising out of Case Crime No. 1888 of 2017 (State v. Neelam and others) under Sections 363, 366 and 120-B I.P.C. and Section 16/17 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, Police Station -Bakhira, District -Sant Kabir Nagar, pending before the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge/Special Judge (POCSO Act), Sant Kabir Nagar.

2. The submission of the learned Counsel for the applicant is that a compromise application dated 13.12.2023 has been filed, signed by the applicant, the prosecutrix, as also the first informant and her husband, that is to say, the mother and father of the prosecutrix. The case against the applicant is that she along with one Aman, conspired to cause the prosecutrix to elope with one Amiullah. The prosecutrix at the time when she eloped, was aged fifteen years and a student of Class X, reading in the local inter-college. It is true that a compromise application has been filed, which is signed by the informant, the prosecutrix, the prosecutrix's father and also by the applicant, where it is said that the prosecutrix, the informant and her husband do not want to pursue the prosecution any further. The prosecutrix's testimony during trial was recorded, where she testified as P.W. 2 on 10.05.2019. The relevant part of her testimony reads:

^^vfemYykg eq>s ysdj eqEcbZ x;k ogk¡ vfemYykg eq>dks ysdj ,d txg x;k Fkk vkSj jkr esa esjs lkFk esjh bPNk ds fo#) cykRdkj fd;k vkSj /kedh fn;k fdlh ls dgksxh rks rqEgkjs HkkbZ dh gR;k dj nsxsA cykRdkj okyh ckr eSaus Mj ds dkj.k efgyk flikgh dks ugha crk;k FkkA veu eqEcbZ esa feyk Fkk cl LVs'ku ls ^^vehmYykg ds lkFk dejs ij ys x;kA eq>s Hkxkus esa uhye vkSj veu dh lkftl FkhA**

3. Now, much after that testimony, the prosecutrix and her parents have moved an application seeking to compromise on 13.12.2022.

4. Heard Mr. Jai Prakash Singh, Advocate holding brief of Mr. Shashi Prakash Misra, learned Counsel for the applicant, Mr. Pramod Kumar Pandey, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of opposite party no. 2 and Mr. Shashi Shekhar Tiwari, learned A.G.A. on behalf of the State.

5. The case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short, 'the Act of 2012') is not a private dispute or an offence of a kind that may be so limited to the interest of the informant and the accused, that the State may not have much to say about. To the contrary, the Act of 2012 is a special statute, which has been enacted with objects and reasons that read:

"STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

Article 15 of the Constitution, inter alia, confers upon the State powers to make special provision for children. Further, article 39, inter alia, provides that the State shall in particular direct its policy towards securing that the tender age of children are not abused and their childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and they are given facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.

2. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children, ratified by India on 11th December, 1992, requires the State Parties to undertake all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent

(a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; (b) the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; and (c) the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.

3. The data collected by the National Crime Records Bureau shows that there has been increase in cases of sexual offences against children. This is corroborated by the Study on Child Abuse: India 2007' conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Moreover, sexual offences against children are not adequately addressed by the existing laws. A large number of such offences are neither specifically provided for nor are they adequately penalised. The inter