Kerala High Court: In a petition filed by the petitioner seeking to quash an FIR filed under Section 509 of the Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and Section 12 read with 11(i) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO), A. Badharudeen, J., dismissed the petition and held that despite the rivalry between the parties, the prosecution has prima facie established the case as the CCTV footage shows the overt acts of the accused against the victim.
Background
The prosecution’s case is that the accused, a neighbour of the victim aged 8 years, allegedly lifted his dhoti and showed his nakedness to the victim. The victim was mentally shocked, and she sat at the sit-out for a while, where the accused again lifted his dhoti and showed his groin to the victim.
Issues and Analysis
The main issue before the Court was whether the allegation prima facie was made out or is it raised as a retaliatory measure to wreak vengeance against the accused, since the parties are in rivalry?
The Court stated that it is true that, when the parties are in rivalry, they falsely implicate each other in serious crimes to wreak vengeance and seek obliteration of the opponent but there may be occurrences otherwise as well.
The Court stated that though the parties are in rivalry, the CCTV footage shows the overt acts of the accused. Therefore, the prosecution case is prima facie made out. The Court further stated that in such a case quashment could not be resorted to.
Regarding the argument that there is no corresponding evidence to show that the victim saw the overt acts of the accused, the Court stated that this argument cannot be considered for two reasons. The first reason is that this is a matter of evidence and the second is that the victim has claimed that she had seen it.
Stating the aforesaid, the Court dismissed the petition, clarifying that this order is limited to the question of quashment.
[X v. State of Kerala, 2024 SCC OnLine Ker 7192, decided on 10-12-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the petitioner: Advocates M.P. Ashok Kumar, Bindu Sreedhar, and Asif N
For the respondent: Public Prosecutor M P Prasanth and Advocate Mathew Kuriakose
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