Parents of a child who is a victim of sexual offence cannot enter into a “compromise” with the accused, Punjab and Haryana High Court has held.

Parents cannot be allowed to compromise a child’s dignity by an agreement, Justice Pankaj Jain said on May 11 while hearing a petition

seeking the quashing of an FIR registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act in Haryana.

The FIR was lodged in 2019 under Sections 452 (house trespass) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities Act) and Pocso Act.

The court said an FIR registered for offences punishable under the Pocso Act could not be quashed on the basis of a compromise.

“The compromise effected by the child and/or her parents, compromising the dignity of the child, cannot be raised to a status where it defeats the very object of the Act.

“Power granted under Section 482 CrPC (powers of high court to quash an FIR) cannot be exercised to defeat the purpose of an enactment enacted in discharge of constitutional mandate as well as obligation arising out of international conventions,” it said.

“Any agreement/compromise executed by the child (till the age of majority) himself/herself as in the present case will be void ab initio and thus cannot be accorded validity,” it said. “Parents cannot be allowed to compromise the dignity of a child by an agreement,” Justice Jain said.