Mumbai Top Cop's Directions To Officers On Molestation, Child Crime Cases

Cases of molestation and crimes under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act should be registered only upon the recommendation of an ACP and with the permission of the zonal DCP, Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey has instructed officials.

The commissioner issued the order in view of the instances where false cases are registered due to personal rivalry or disputes over property, money matters and personal issues, an official said.

The directive, issued on Monday, noted that in many such cases, the accused is arrested immediately without a verification of facts, and later the complaint is found to be fake.

The accused person's reputation gets tarnished for no reason even though he is eventually discharged, the commissioner said in the order.

To avoid this, police officials have been instructed to register First Information Reports (FIRs) for molestation or under the POCSO Act only after getting a recommendation of the divisional assistant commissioner of police and with the permission of the zonal deputy commissioner, it said.

While granting permission, the DCP should follow the Supreme Court's judgement in the Lalita Kumari case, it added.

In the 2013 `Lalita Kumari versus Govt of UP and others' case, a three-member bench of the apex court set out guidelines as to when the registration of FIR is mandatory.