Right to cross-examination is part of right to fair trial: Chhattisgarh High Court allows re-examination of POCSO survivor

The Chhattisgarh High Court recently held that right to cross-examination is part of right to fair trial which every person is entitled to in the spirit of right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India [Manish Sonkar v. State of Chhattisgarh].

Single-Judge Justice Rajani Dubey was hearing a plea moved by one Manish Sonkar, assailing the order of Special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Court which had rejected the application filed by the petitioner under Section 311 of Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 for recalling of prosecutrix and her parents for examination.

The petitioner was booked under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage) and 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860 and Sections 5 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

It was the case of the petitioner that the parents of the prosecutrix falsely implicated him in the instant case as there was love affair between him and the prosecutrix.

He further argued that after the prosecutrix attained majority, she had informed him that all the statements given by her were under pressure from her family members. Therefore, he asked the Court to order re-examination of the prosecutrix.

At the outset, the Court noted that right to cross-examination is a part of right to fair trial which every person has in the spirit of right to life and personal liberty.

Moreover, relying heavily on the decision of the Supreme Court in Natasha Singh v. Central Bureau of Investigation (2013), the High Court went on to observe that:

"In the case in hand, the ground of re-examination is that earlier the statement of the prosecutrix was recorded under duress but the learned trial court ignoring the aforesaid facts and summarily dismissed the application filed by the petitioner. The learned court below ought to have allowed the petition by exercising the jurisdiction under Section 311 CrPC."

The Court, therefore, allowed the plea for re-examination of the prosecutrix.

"The learned trial court shall afford a chance to the petitioner to cross-examine the prosecutrix. The petitioner shall bear the expenses of the witness which would be fixed by the learned trial court. The trial court is free to impose conditions as it thinks fit," the Court said.

Advocate Aman Pandey appeared for the petitioner while advocate Ayaz Naved appeared for the respondent.

[Read Order]