The Delhi High court issued a notice on 21st February, 2023. This was seen in the PIL 2023/DHC he case was presided over by Hon’ble Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad
FACTS OF THE CASE:
The Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by advocate Harsh Vibhore Singhal challenging Sections 19, 21 and 22 of the POCSO Act.
Section 19 provides for the mandatory reporting of suspicion or knowledge of sexual offences involving minors and Section 21 prescribes imprisonment for a person’s failure to do so.Section 22 acts as a safety valve for false reporting, if the same has been done in good faith.
The petitioner argued that these provisions are bad in law as they deprive a sexual assault survivor and other minors involved in consensual sex of the right to give informed consent for such reporting.
“… the law is well settled that neither law, nor police nor any court can force a sexual assault survivor to report an offence by filing an FIR and no police or court can force any minor in consensual sex to report her sexual activity. Thus, the Impugned Sections requiring mandatory reporting are untenable, arbitrary and unconstitutional and deserve to be set aside,” the petition argued.
ISSUED NOTICE:
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Central government on a plea challenging several provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act that requires mandatory reporting of sexual offences involving minors.
A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad directed the government to file its response to the plea and listed the case for completion of pleadings before the Joint Registrar in July.
The petitioner, therefore, urged the Court to declare the provisions under challenge as unconstitutional. Further, the petitioner called on the Court to direct the police to obtain the consent of the victim before any first information report (FIR) concerning sexual conduct is registered.
The matter would be listed next on July 17.
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Notice reviewed by Drishti verma
