Madras High Court awards ₹ 5 lakh compensation to minor victim of repeated sexual abuse

While confirming a trial court conviction in a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Madras High Court recently enhanced the compensation payable to a boy found to have been repeatedly sodomised by a man over the course of a week. .A Bench of Justices PN Prakash and RN Manjula passed the order, while noting that the traumatic experience is bound to affect the victim later in life as well. ."The boy was beaten by the accused whenever he cried out of tear. The bite marks which was found on the legs of the victim boy would show that he was subjected to physical harassment as well. To a boy of his age such kind of sexual abuse at the hands of the accused would be a traumatic and shocking experience. And it would also leave a mark on his mind when he grows as an adult", the Court said. .The trial court had earlier awarded ₹ 1 lakh as compensation in the case. The High Court, however, found that the “Tamil Nadu Child Victim Compensation Fund under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 prescribes the minimum compensation payable to child victims of aggravated sexual assault was ₹ 5 lakhs. .As such, the High Court enhanced the compensation payable in this case. The State was ordered to make the payment within 30 days, wth 25% of the amount to be paid to the victim's father and 75% to be put in the name of the victim in a fixed deposit account..By way of background, it was the prosecution's case that in 2016, while the child was on his way back from school, he was abducted by the accused man from a bus stop on the pretext that the child would be dropped back home. .The accused is stated to have taken the boy to another place where the child was locked and subjected to sexual assault during night. As per the prosecution, the accused compelled the boy to have oral sex with him and also committed penetrative sexual assault on the boy. This continued for a week, before the boy could escape and narrate the events to his family, the Court was told. .A trial court convicted the accused under Sections 367, 343, 324, and 377 of the Indian Penal Court (IPC) and Section 6 of the POCSO Act. .The High Court on Friday confirmed the trial court's finding, while also rejecting the accused man's defence that the child suffered from some psychiatric issues which cast doubt on his testimony. .The High Court ruled that the victim had given a clear and cogent account of the events, including during his examination in the trial court. "At the time when the boy was examined in Court he was 14 years old and he was able to comprehend the questions posed to him by the learned Sessions Judge and talk coherently. The learned Sessions Judge was also satisfied with the preliminary examination and found that the victim boy was fit enough to depose his evidence ... victim boy did not have any confusion while he was deposing evidence and his evidence is cogent and clear ... His cross examination also did not demolish the fact spoken by him in his chief-examination", the High Court found. .The Bench added that neither the victim nor his parents have any motive to falsely implicate the accused. The Judges further emphasised that in sexual offences, the evidence of the victim alone is sufficient to convict the accused. ."Since the offence will not happen in the public view the evidence of the victim deserves best weightage. The evidence of the victim is like that of an injured witness and hence, the Court cannot reject the victims’ testimony unless it was motivated or exaggerated ... Once the Court is convinced that the evidence of the victim is acceptable it is not always necessary to look for corroborative evidence. .The Court also reitereated that under Section 29-30 of the POCSO Act, it is the accused that has got the reverse burden to prove his innocence (unlike in most other criminal cases, where it is on the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused). ."If the evidence of the victim is solid and unrebutted and has the quality to convince the Court, there is no harm in accepting the evidence of the victim as true. No doubt the evidence of child witnesses should be scrutinized with due care because of their tender age and understanding. The learned trial Judge has interacted with the boy by putting some formal questions and convinced himself about the maturity of the child to depose his evidence", the High Court further observed. .The Court, ultimately, dismissed the appeal filed by the accused challenging the trial court order, while stating:"The cumulative effect of the evidence of the victim child and other incidental circumstances revealed by his parents along with the bite marks on the body of the victim boy, would sufficiently prove that the boy was subjected to repeated penetrative sexual assault.".Advocate PK Ganesh appeared for the appellant whereas Additional Public Prosecutor M Babu Muthu Meeran appeared for the State. .[Read Judgment]