New Delhi:
Delhi Police has been pulled up by a court for not conducting a proper probe in a sexual harassment case in which the accused man has been acquitted as the FIR was lodged by pressurising the girl to depose against her lover.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pawan Kumar Jain said it appeared that the investigating officer was in a hurry to arrest the accused without any proper investigation and acting in such a casual manner is not good for the society.
The court observed that arresting a person has serious consequences for the individual involved and causes intolerable trauma to him and the family and that statutory duty of police is to find out the truth into the allegations.
The court passed the judgement while acquitting Delhi resident Ankit Dubey of the charges of sexually harassing, stalking, wrongly confining and criminally intimidating a 18-year-old girl, with whom he was in love.
"...It becomes limpid that victim (girl) was in love with the accused (youth) and she intended to marry him. Accused and victim were willing to marry after eloping from their house," the court said, noting that their love affair continued even after lodging of the FIR last year.
The girl had lodged the FIR against the accused as she was being pressurised by her parents to do so, it said.
It said as the police did not carry out a proper probe, the accused had to remain in jail for five days despite the fact that he had no fault.
"...it appears that investigating officer was in haste to arrest the accused without any proper investigation. Such type of approach is not good for the administration of criminal justice," the court said, adding that even though the girl had categorically stated that she made complaint under pressure, no investigation was done in this regard.
It said that statutory duty of police is to investigate the matter in accordance with law and to find out the truth.
"If a person is arrested in such a casual manner, it will not be good for the society at large. Needless to say that whenever a person is arrested for an offence of moral turpitude, it has serious consequences as it becomes difficult for such a person to get a government job in future....
"Further, arrest even in a minor offence cause intolerable trauma not only to the accused but also to his family members...," the court said.
According to the prosecution, on March 18, 2013, Dubey had misbehaved with the girl, a class X student, in the presence of other girls at a public place. He had also threatened her that if she did not follow his directions, he would kill her and her family members, it said.
The court said a copy of its judgement be sent to the Commissioner of Delhi Police for taking remedial steps to ensure that mandatory provisions be complied in letter and spirit at the time of arrest and to take appropriate action in case of shoddy investigation.
It directed the Commissioner to submit an action taken report within six weeks from the date of judgement.
During the trial, Dubey denied the allegations and said he was in love with the girl and both were planning to get married after eloping.
He had also claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case by the girl's father, who was working with the Ministry of Defence and took advantage of his position.
The court noted that the girl admitted in her deposition before it that someone had informed at her house that she was meeting a boy due to which she was scolded by her mother and when she told her parents that she wanted to marry the youth, they pressurised her to lodge a false FIR against him.
Acquitting the youth who was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the court said there must be something on the part of wrongdoer which may annoy the victim in one way or another way.
"It is pertinent to state that provisions of POCSO Act do not prevent a child to have friendship or even love affair with opposite sex. It is pertinent to state that love always does not mean sexual relations....
"To have a friendship is one of the basic human rights, and no child can be deprived from his/her said right," the court said, adding that if any person exceeds limits of friendship with a child, sufficient provisions have been enacted to deal with such person.