Right of Accused to Cross-Examine Prosecutrix Can’t Always Be Denied Only Because Of Section 33(5), POCSO Act
Case: Mohit v. State of Uttarakhand
Coram: Acting Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice R.C Khulbe
Case No.: IA No. 01 of 2021 in Criminal Appeal No. 231 of 2021
Court Observation: “…it was erroneous on the part of the learned Additional Sessions Judge/FTSC to reject the application to re-call the child witness only on the ground that Sub-Section (5) of Section 33 of the POCSO Act provides that repeated attendance of the child should be avoided. Moreover, an accused, who is arraigned for committing serious offence like rape and penetrative sexual intercourse, should be given an adequate opportunity of cross-examining the witness.”
Thus, in view of the above circumstances, it was held that it was ‘erroneous’ on the part of the Additional Sessions Judge/FTSC to reject the application to re-call the child witness only on the ground that Sub-Section (5) of Section 33 of the POCSO Act provides that repeated attendance of the child should be avoided. Moreover, it was stressed that an accused, who is charged for committing serious offence like rape and penetrative sexual intercourse, should be given an adequate opportunity to cross-examine the witness.
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