Karnataka High Court refuses to quash criminal proceedings against madarasa trustee for non-reporting of sexual assault on 11-year-old boy

Two trustees of a Bengaluru-based madarasa have been named as accused in the case for not reporting the crime. Representational picture
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Observing that non-reporting of a sexual offence on a child is a serious offence in law, the High Court of Karnataka refused to quash a criminal proceeding against one of the trustees of a Bengaluru-based residential madarasa for failing to report the incident of repeated unnatural sexual assault on an 11-year-old student by two of the teachers.

“It is in public domain that several cases of heinous offences committed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 go unnoticed due to the lack of information, as it is suppressed by the concerned. But, the fact is that, the victims who are subjected to such assault, by the accused, except in justifiable cases, get away by lack of reporting. Therefore, non-reporting snowballs into a serious offence,” the Court obsered.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by Mohammed Aamir Raza, a trustee of the madarasa. The petitioner was arraigned as accused number four along with another trustee, who was arraigned as accused number three along with the two accused teachers.

Referring to the Section 19 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, which declares non-reporting of sexual offences against children as an offence, and the apex court’s guidelines on this issue, the High Court said that reporting of offences under the POCSO Act requires strict compliance failing which the offender committing the offence arising out of rape or sexual abuse on a child, will get away from the clutches of law defeating the very object of promulgation of the Act with Section 19, which is one of the steps towards preventive measures of child abuses.

It was alleged that two teachers of madarasa had repeated unnatural sex with the victim by pouring coconut oil on his private part and the management of the madarasa had failed to report the allegation to the police event after the boy’s father, who later lodged a complaint with the police, had brought the incident to the notice of the management. It was alleged that the accused trustees had asked the complaint not to reveal about the incident to anyone.

The incident, occurred during June 2023 to September, 2023, came to light when the victim boy narrated to his refused to stay in madarasa and narrated how he suffered from pain while passing stool, and fever due to repeated sexual assault during nights when the boy was sleeping in his room.