Karnataka High Court Upholds Gender-Neutral Application of the POCSO Act in Case Involving Woman Accused

Case Name :- Archana Patil v. State of Karnataka

Judgment Date: August 18, 2025

Bench: Justice M. Nagaprasanna,

Single-Judge Bench, Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has firmly rejected a petition to quash charges against a 52-year-old woman accused of sexually assaulting a minor boy under Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act. The court reaffirmed that the law is gender-neutral, designed to provide protection to all children, regardless of gender .

Key Highlights:

The court emphasized that the POCSO Act, especially after its 2019 amendment, is explicitly gender-inclusive—its protections and penal provisions extend equally to male and female perpetrators .

Language in the Act—including the use of pronouns such as “he”—must be interpreted using Section 8 of the IPC, which makes terms like “he” applicable to any person, regardless of gender .

The court found that Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 apply regardless of the perpetrator’s gender. The case here fit within the statutory definitions because it involved inducing the child to commit the act—falling squarely within the ambit of “makes the child do so with her” .

It was held that delay in reporting such offenses is understandable given the trauma and shock experienced by child victims. As such, procedural delays cannot serve as a valid reason to quash proceedings .

The court rejected arguments about the possibility of physiological responses (like erection) under duress, deeming such contentions archaic and unacceptable in modern jurisprudence, noting that trauma can indeed elicit involuntary responses .

In light of these findings, the court dismissed the petition under Section 482 CrPC, affirming that statutory protections under POCSO cannot be undermined through narrow or stereotypical interpretations .