Manipur Police filed a supplementary chargesheet against two individuals including the chairperson of state Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MCPCR) in a sexual assault case.
As per the chargesheet submitted today in the special court of POCSO, the chairperson MCPCR and a relative of the victim were named co-accused. They were charged under section 21 of POCSO Act for failing to report the offence to the police in time, despite having knowledge of it.
A Class X student of the school was sexually assaulted on January 18 evening inside the campus by the then principal. However, an FIR was filed by the police on the morning of February 21 following an email received by the Superintendent of Police from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) about the assault. The same evening around 5 pm, police arrested the accused from the school premises.
The chargesheet revealed that the MCPCR chairperson came to know about the sexual assault by the Principal on February 14. Instead of reporting the incident to the police, the chairperson instructed the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of the concerned district for an enquiry and the report was sent to NCPCR, stated the charge sheet.
In a similar manner, the relative of the victim was also charged with the same section of POCSO. She reportedly became aware of the incident on January 15 when the victim narrated it to her but did not report it to the police.
Earlier, the police also chargesheeted 13 persons including top office bearers of the school’s regional office under the similar section of POCSO. The charge hearing of both cases will be held in the special POCSO court on August 8.