CHENNAI: Observing that for the sin of having suffered sexual abuse, a child victim should not be made to suffer further at the hands of the accused during trial, the Madras high court has rejected a plea from an accused, who allegedly attempted to rape a 14-year-old girl in Chennai in 2013, to recall the victim girl for cross examination. Dismissing the petition filed by the accused, Justice P.N.Prakash directed the Mahila court in Chennai to complete the trial within three months. If the accused adopts any dilatory tactics, it is open to the trial court to remand the accused to custody.The judge made it clear that boycott of courts shall be no reason for the accused to refrain from cross examining witnesses.
For attempting to rape the girl, the MKB Nagar police registered a case against the accused in 2013. The police filed a final report before the Mahila court for various IPC offences and under section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Charges were framed against the accused and the victim was examined on February 5, 2014. The accused did not cross examine her then. Thereafter, he filed an application to recall the victim and her parents for cross examination. The trial court partly allowed the petition in respect of the parents and rejected the plea to recall the victim for cross examination. Aggrieved, the accused filed the present petition.
The judge said POCSO Act was a special act which mandates that a child victim should not be called repeatedly to testify in court. Thus, in the considered opinion of this court, the trial court was very correct in placing reliance upon section 33 (5) of POCSO Act and dismissing the petition of the accused in respect of recall of victim on the ground that he failed to avail himself of the opportunity to cross-examine her on February 5, 2014 when she was examined in chief and even subsequently on February 23, 2016, when she was recalled at his request.
One has to suffer the consequences of one's conscious actions, the judge said.
