New Delhi: A bench of the Gauhati high court has said that charges under the POCSO Act – slapped against many in the anti-child marriage drive led by Himanta Biswa Sarma’s government in Assam – do not automatically ensure the need for custodial interrogation.
Assam Police has arrested over 3,000 people in connection with a crackdown against child marriages. Many of these marriages were solemnised years ago, leading families to lose earning members and fathers. Many women have protested on this ground, asking for the release of their husbands. Experts have pointed out how such a crackdown can stop teenaged mothers from seeking treatment in public health centres.
Granting anticipatory bail to some of those accused as part of the drive, Justice Suman Shyam orally made observations on the necessity for immediate custodial interrogation in such cases.
Indian Express has reported that the high court granted bail to nine of the accused in four cases.
“If marriage is taking place in violation of Law, the law will take its own course. These cases have been happening since time. We will only consider if immediate custodial interrogation is required or not. At this moment, this court thinks that these are not matters for custodial interrogation. We will ask them to appear and record their statements. These are not NDPS, smuggling, stolen property cases,” he said, according to LiveLaw.
Dealing with a separate but similar case, too, Justice Shyam said that these were “not matters for custodial interrogation.”
Urging the state to proceed as per law and charge the accused, he said that if they are convicted then so it shall be, indicating that they should not be immediately penalised with incarceration at this stage. “It is causing havoc in the private life of people, there are children, there are family members and old people,” the bench said.
He also crucially remarked on the role of the POCSO Act which was invoked in addition to sections under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, in some of the cases.
Additional Public Prosecutor of Assam, D. Das, reported Express, told the court that Section 6 of POCSO Act, which deals with aggravated penetrative sexual assault, had been invoked in one of the four cases. The offence carries a minimum sentence of 20 years.
“[When it comes to] POCSO you can add anything. What is the POCSO here? Merely because POCSO is added, does it mean judges will not see what is there?…We are not acquitting anyone here. No one is preventing you to probe,” Justice Shyam said.
According to LiveLaw‘s report, Justice Shyam also enquired into why Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with rape, had been invoked against an accused.