The Allahabad High Court has recently said that Ordinarily the High Court should not interfere in criminal proceedings relating to sexual offenses against women and children on the ground that there is a settlement between the parties. However, the court should not be deterred from quashing the proceedings in cases where the material available on record does not constitute an offense. The court observed that in the present case no offense is made out from the material available on record. Thereafter the court quashed the pending proceedings under section 363 366 376(2n) 506 of IPC and POCSO Act. As per the case, a case under the above sections of IPC and POCSO Act was pending against the accused in the POCSO court of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. The accused had filed a petition under section 482 of CrPC in the High Court seeking quashing of the pending proceedings against him. The petitioner submitted that in the statements recorded before the Magistrate under Section 164 CrPC, the victim has stated that she has voluntarily married the petitioner and is living with the petitioner as his wife. The petitioner said that a settlement has been reached between the two parties in the matter. Both the petitioner and the victim are living together as husband and wife. In the medical report, the age of the victim has been mentioned as more than 18 years. The victim gave an affidavit in the matter stating that the petitioner had not committed any offense against her.she has voluntarily entered into marriage with the petitioner. His mother had filed a false complaint to extort money from the petitioner. Taking into consideration the submissions of the petitioner, the bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal observed that Medical report certifying the age of the victim to be more than 18 years, making the allegations under the POCSO Act false and no case under the POCSO Act is made out. The court observed the medical report and said that No injury marks have been found on the body of the victim There is no disclosure in the medical report regarding the sexual assault of the victim. The court said that it appears that the investigating officer has filed the charge sheet without analyzing the material collected during the investigation.
From the material available on record no offense is made out and there is no justification for continuation of the pending proceedings against the petitioner