The Delhi High Court Thursday set aside a trial court order to lodge FIR against a woman police officer for penetrative sexual assault of a minor girl, who had also levelled allegations of rape and molestation against her father and school teacher respectively.
The woman officer was one of the investigating officers in the sexual assault case lodged against the father and was accused of penetrating the private parts of the minor with her fingers prior to medial examination of the girl.
The high court said there was "no plausible motive" for the woman to commit the offence she had been accused of.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva further said the trial court should not have overlooked the possibility of a false complaint being made against the woman officer under the influence of the parents, "especially when the father is accused of sexually assaulting the child victim and she is continuing to reside with him".
The high court also noted in its order that the doctor and the nurse who carried out the girl's medical examination had said that the allegations against the officer were "false and baseless" as neither the minor nor her mother said anything to them about any such incident.
Even the inquiry report of Delhi Police had absolved the officer of any wrongdoing and had said that the minor complainant appeared to be under influence of her father as she was residing with him under the same roof, the high court noted.
Justice Sachdeva, in his order, said that the trial court "instead of acting with caution and satisfying itself about the veracity of the allegations, has acted in a haste and without conducting any inquiry or waiting for the report of the inquiry being conducted by the police" and accepted the allegations against the officer at face value.
"In view of the above, the impugned order dated April 17, 2017 directing registration of the FIR against the petitioner (woman police officer) under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and under section 218 IPC (public servant framing incorrect record with intent to save person from punishment) is set aside," the high court said.
It further said, "However, it is open to the trial court to pass an appropriate order after conducting a preliminary inquiry and prima facie satisfying itself about the veracity of the allegations."
An FIR was lodged against the father on a statement given to a magistrate by the girl's school friends who said that she had told them her dad used to rape her when her mother was not around.
The girl in her statement to the magistrate had accused one of her teachers of molesting her.
However, in her subsequent statement to the magistrate she exonerated both her father as well as the teacher of any wrong doing.
Thereafter both the cases were transferred to the District Investigating Unit/ Outer District of the police, the woman officer had taken the girl for internal medical examination with her mother's consent, as earlier the parents had not consented to the same.
After the internal medical examination, on the very same day, the child lodged a complaint at Aman Vihar police station in north west Delhi against the officer accusing her of inserting her fingers in the girl's private parts and forcing her to go for the medical examination.
The girl had also alleged that the examination was carried out without her consent.
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