State of Gujarat v. Anirudh Singh
Supreme Court of IndiaMANU/SC/0749/1997; (1997) 6 SCC 514; AIR 1997 SC 2780Bench: J. M.K. Mukherjee, J. K.T. Thomas
The Supreme Court held that every citizen has a civic and constitutional duty to assist the state in maintaining law and order by reporting cognizable offences. Failure to report a cognizable offence is an offence under Section 176 IPC. The Court emphasised that this duty becomes even more critical where the victims are children who are unable to report abuse themselves. The principle of this judgment was incorporated into Section 19 POCSO Act, 2012 which makes it mandatory for every person (including institutions, hospitals, and individuals) who has knowledge of a child being abused to report the offence.