Bhubaneswar: The Orissa high court has issued a stern warning to panchayat representatives against settling cases of sexual crimes involving minors at the village level. The high court directed district collectors and superintendents of police to launch sensitisation programmes to curb this unlawful practice.The directive came recently as the court upheld the conviction of a man who raped a minor, later married her under a settlement brokered by a village committee, and eventually abandoned her, forcing the survivor to lodge a complaint.The case involved a 17-year-old girl from Kandhamal district, who revealed to her mother that she was raped on July 18, 2016. Instead of reporting the crime, the village committee reportedly pressured the accused to marry her once she was above 18. The marriage was solemnised on May 12, 2021, but soon collapsed.On Jan 30, 2024, the survivor filed a police complaint accusing her husband of abandonment and alleging that her in-laws attempted to kill her. On April 9, 2025, the additional district and sessions court in Kandhamal sentenced the man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for rape, while acquitting his parents. He appealed against the verdict before the high court.Dismissing the appeal on Feb 13, the single-judge bench of Justice Sanjeeb K Panigrahi criticised the village committee’s unlawful intervention. The court observed that attempts to suppress child rape under the guise of marriage are illegal and unacceptable. “The moment an offence against a minor is alleged, the matter belongs before the law, not before a circle of village arbiters. A sexual offence against a minor is a grave crime. When local notables decide such issues can be resolved through assurances of marriage, they behave as though the criminal law stops at the boundary of the village. The law does not recognise any such boundary,” the judgment stated.The high court further directed district administrations and police authorities to ensure that village leaders are made aware of their statutory obligations under the Pocso Act, particularly the duty to report offences involving children. It emphasised that any attempt to suppress such allegations through informal meetings, compromises, or promises of marriage is wholly impermissible.“It must be remembered that no panchayat is a court of law. A sarpanch does not exercise the authority of a magistrate, nor do village elders acquire jurisdiction over criminal offences merely by convening a meeting,” the judgment said.
