Top law firm terminates partner booked for sexual assault of daughter

A top law firm has terminated one of its partners who was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) for the sexual assault of his own minor daughter.

Senior leadership at the law firm confirmed to Bar & Bench that the accused partner's services have been terminated with immediate effect.

A first information report (FIR) was registered on February 2 this year under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the POCSO Act, after the mother of the child filed a complaint against her husband.

The mother alleged that her husband, the child’s father, repeatedly subjected their six-year-old daughter to sexual assault by touching her private parts and by making the child touch his private parts whenever the girl was alone with him.

The accused then approached a special POCSO court in Mumbai for anticipatory bail.

The child’s mother opposed the plea and stressed the seriousness of the allegations. She argued that the accused, being both a legal practitioner and the child’s father, could misuse his position to influence witnesses or derail the process of law. She also argued that the the victim is of “too tender age” to even understand the seriousness of what was done to her.

On March 16, the court granted the accused anticipatory bail, reasoning that the investigation could proceed without taking him into custody.

The order noted that since the registration of the FIR, the police had sufficient opportunity to investigate without arresting the accused. It recorded that the investigating officer had never sought custodial interrogation and had instead issued notice to secure his presence. The judge observed that any medical examination of the accused could be carried out without placing him in custody.

The court also noted underlying matrimonial disputes between the spouses, which it said would be considered at the trial stage rather than at the anticipatory bail stage.

While granting anticipatory bail, the special court imposed conditions restraining the accused lawyer from contacting or pressuring the victim, the complainant or any prosecution witnesses and from making any threats or inducements. 

He was further directed to cooperate with the investigation and not leave India without prior court permission.

An appeal against the order, filed by the mother of the child, is expected to come up for hearing before the Bombay High Court soon.

According to Mumbai Mirror, the mother of the child has also alleged inaction on the part of the authorities, stating that it was only after the National Commission of Women (NCW) intervened that the police registered the FIR. 

“A highly questionable attempt to serve notice at 2 am, followed by a 14-hour delay, enabled him to secure anticipatory bail..." she was quoted as saying.

She also claimed to have recovered a pen drive containing explicit material allegedly recorded by her husband over several years.

“I recently got a pen drive in which there are hundreds of explicit videos and photos of my husband and his male and female friends performing group sex. Though I cannot clearly identify everyone, some of them are either his colleagues at the law firm or his childhood friends,” she reportedly said, adding that some of the people on video might have been exploited.

Note: Bar & Bench has accessed the case files. However, as the case relates to a POCSO offence and involves a minor child, it is withholding the partner’s name to protect the child's identity.