20-year-old youth granted bail in POCSOA case, sets a precedent

The recent judgment passed by the sessions court, which granted bail to a 20-year-old boy arrested in the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA) case, is the apt way to tackle false cases.

Advocates claim that the court has acknowledged the fact that the act is misused by people in order to get their personal revenge, thus the court grants bail to the person. Usually due to the sensitivity of the matter, the accused are not granted bail till the completion of trial but the court granted bail to the youth, who had allegedly molested one of his tuition mates.

Advocate Prakash Salsingekar, who appears in most of the POCSOA cases, said, "One cannot rule out the possibility that the POCSOA law is widely misused. In cases where fake cases are registered, they are just due to the revenge. Also people know that the act is a stringent one, thus grant of bail to the accused is not that easy."

The sessions court had recently granted bail to Salman Qureshi, a resident of Kandivali, who was arrested by the Charkop police in the POCSOA case when the victim in her complaint mentioned of the boy entering her school classroom and pulling her hand.

The court however while granting bail held that the accused is in his young and does not have any criminal antecedents and hence in such circumstances he should be granted bail.