Vijayawada: Romantic relationship cases more, at 21 per cent in State

Vijayawada: The cases in which the victim admitted to a romantic relationship with the accused at any stage of the investigation or trial, or if such a relationship was infer-red by the judge from the facts of the case, were treated as ‘romantic’ cases.

108 out of the 509 cases analysed, (21.21 per cent) were classified as romantic in nature. Convictions were recorded in six cases (5.55 per cent), of which in three cases the accused was convicted under both the Pocso Act and the IPC, and three were convicted under the IPC only.

The rate of conviction in romantic cases, therefore, stands nearly 6 per cent lower than the overall rate of conviction by the special courts.

Compensation was not awarded in any of the cases that had resulted in a conviction. The victim had become pregnant, allegedly as a result of the penetrative sexual assault by the accused in 15 cases (13.88 per cent), but none of them resulted in a conviction.

Marriage between the victim and the accused had taken place in 47 out of 108 cases (43.51 per cent), either before the report was filed, or subsequently. None of these cases resulted in a conviction, even though, in several cases, the minority of the victim was not in doubt.

The report stated that the failure of the prosecution to establish the age of the victim, and in some cases, the failure of the special court to even consider the question of the age of the victim was seen most evidently in 'romantic cases', especially in cases where the victim was married to the accused or they appeared to have a child.

Of the 108 romantic cases, the father of the girl had filed the complaint in 33 cases (30.9 percent), the mother in 26 cases (23.63 percent), the guardian in one case and other relatives in three cases. As was evident in 54.62 percent of romantic cases, the victim's parent set the criminal justice system into motion. The victim filed the complaint in 43 cases (39.81 percent).

In 74 of 108 romantic cases (68.51 percent), the age of the victim was contested, and no definite finding was given by the special court in this regard.

In nine cases (47.36 percent) the victim admitted to being in a romantic relationship with, or having married, the accused, but denied sexual assault.

Compensation was awarded or recommended in only three cases in which the victim was pregnant, although the pregnancy was established in all cases. All three cases had ended in convictions.

One of the researchers of this study Ms G. Anuroopa stated that Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection Act), 2015 (hereinafter JJ Act), and the erstwhile JJ Rules were not referred to in any judgment. The special court did not even attempt to verify the minority of the victim. In several cases, evidence was not produced by the prosecution to prove the minority of the victim.