Doctors who check the age of the victim under Posco Act should be given training: High Court

Prayagraj, 11 October (Hindustan Reporter). Allahabad High Court has directed the state government to provide proper training to the doctors who determine the age of the victim under the POCSO Act. The age of the victim is recorded mechanically in the medical report without giving any conclusion or reason. Whereas it is necessary to draw a conclusion based on the medical parameters or scientific criteria adopted to determine the age of the victim.

While hearing the bail plea of ​​an accused in a POCSO case, Justice Ajay Bhanot passed this order after finding flaws in the medical report prepared to confirm the age of the victim. Also accepted the bail application of the accused.

A case was registered against petitioner Dharmendra in the police station-kotwali village of Etah in the case of POCSO and rape. He is in jail since 7 December 2023. He filed an application in the High Court for bail. The petitioner's lawyer said that the age of the victim has been mentioned in the FIR as 15 years. So that the applicant can be falsely implicated under the stringent provisions of POCSO. The victim's parents had incorrectly entered the victim's age in the school records. There is no legal basis for the entry regarding the age of the victim in the school records. School records giving his age as 15 are unreliable. Whereas the relationship between the petitioner and the victim was consensual and they were also married.

The court, while granting bail to the petitioner, noted that there were material contradictions regarding the age of the victim. While the accused person claimed that she was an adult. Her school records stated that she was 15 years old and a medical report stated that she was 13 years old. The court also took seriously the plea of ​​the petitioner that the medical report filed in this case was prepared mechanically and no reason was recorded in it. The court said that such report is invalid. In the present case the age column has only been filled, and the reasons for conclusion regarding age are absent.