The much needed POCSO courts
With an aim to ensure speedy Justice and ensure that child rights abuse cases are taken to logical conclusion, the Supreme Court has directed the Centre to set up dedicated POCSO courts on top priority. The apex court suggested that these courts will exclusively deal with cases of sexual offences against children.
Interestingly, while majority of the states, with the funding from the Centre, complied with the directions for setting up exclusive courts for POCSO cases, in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Maharashtra, and a few other states, more POCSO courts were required given the pendency of such cases.
Since the child abuse cases are witnessing an upward trend and the slow mechanism of the justice procedure has led to accumulation of thousands of cases in the courts, the SC has asked states to set up two designated courts in districts where the number of pending cases of child abuse under the POCSO Act was more than 300.
Rights of children have always been debated across the length and breadth of the country. Even though lot of awareness is being raised among the people regarding such cases and reducing the incidents of child abuse is the main thrust of such campaigns, the children (especially) vulnerable ones are still facing abuses at the hands of elders and the law is also acting slowly in deciding on quantum of punishments in such abuse cases.
Recently, a virtual meeting convened by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was also convened on the issue and experts who joined the meeting felt the need for initiating widespread awareness, proactive administrative approaches and personal intervention by authorities so that child protection laws are effectively implemented.
Child rights experts have been arguing for strengthening the dissemination and awareness of two key child protection laws, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.
Notably, the importance of structured and widespread awareness to ensure the effective implementation of these legislations is the need of the hour what is required is a stronger collaboration among all stakeholders to uphold child rights in their truest sense.
The challenges in implementation of child rights acts could be addressed through proactive administrative approaches, personal intervention by authorities and better dissemination of legal provisions.
Presently, there are several critical areas of concern, including the urgent need for coordinated inter-ministerial efforts, establishment of fast-track courts for child sexual abuse cases and uniformity in medico-legal reporting formats across the country.
Though stakeholders including several civil society organisations have been working round the clock to ensure protection of children and fully implementation of laws that secure their rights, lot needs to be done on this front in order to achieve some tangible results.
The directions by the apex court on establishing dedicated POCSO courts have come at the right time and the authorities should waste no time to act of the top courts advice. This will ensure a safe future for our posterity.
