'Why POCSO Act Added Here?What Is The Need Of Custodial Interrogation?: Gauhati HC Grants Anticipatory Bail In Many 'Child Marriage Act' Cases

Granting anticipatory bail to certain accused in different matters booked under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 r/w the POCSO Act, the Gauhati High Court today observed that these are not matters which require custodial interrogation.

"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," the bench of Justice Suman Shyam orally observed.

In response to this, when the counsel for the State argued that these are serious matters, Justice Suman Shyam remarked thus:

"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."

Thereafter, when another similar matter came up before the Court, the Court sought the view of an advocate sitting in the courtroom who agreed with the opinion of the bench.

"These are not matters for custodial interrogation. You (the state) proceed as per law, file a charge sheet, if they are convicted, then they are convicted. It is causing havoc in the private life of people, there are children, there are family members and old people," the bench further remarked.

Justice Shyam also added that child marriage is a bad idea, but then the Court will give its views when the right time comes. The Court also said that at the moment, the only issue is whether they (the accused) should be arrested and pushed into jail.

Further, when another matter with similar allegations came up before the Court, the bench asked the state as to why Section 376 IPC was added to the case.

"Is there any allegation of rape here?", Justice Shyam Court asked as it perused the record of the case and further added that 'weird allegations' were made in the case. With this, the accused was granted anticipatory bail.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Gau) 22