The High Court of Karnataka has quashed proceedings initiated by a sessions court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) cases in 2017 against Rt. Rev. Prasanna Kumar Samuel, Bishop, Church of South India-Karnataka Central Diocese, Bengaluru.
Justice Hemant Chandangoudar passed the order while allowing the petition filed by Mr. Samuel questioning the December 2017 decision of the sessions court to include him as one of the accused even though he was not named in the charge sheet.
A case under the POCSO Act was registered with the Cubbon Park police station in January 2015 in relation to alleged sexual assault on some of the girls on the premises of a prestigious school in the central part of the city. The police filed a charge sheet in February 2016 against some accused persons and it did not include the petitioner’s name.
However, the sessions court had arraigned the petitioner as an accused on a application filed by the public prosecutor contending that there are specific allegations of overt acts against the petitioner.
“The perusal of the charge sheet material and so also the statement of the victim recorded under Section 164 of Cr.P.C which clearly discloses that the petitioner is not involved in the commission of the aforesaid offences,” the High Court observed while pointing out that the trial court had issued summons to the petitioner without perusing the charge sheet material.
