Hyderabad: Strict laws, quick trial must to save kids from tormentors
Hyderabad: According to legal experts and prosecutors, apart from making stringent laws to punish those who commit crimes against children, speedy disposal of cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act is essential.
The steep increase in the rate of crimes against children in the country has made the Union government incorporate the death penalty in the POCSO Act for sexual assault on minors, and fine and imprisonment as punishment to curb child pornography.
Lawyers and prosecutors familiar with POCO cases say that the disposal rate is less than 20 per cent per annum.
In Telangana State, an average of 500 cases are filed every month under the POSCO Act, most of them in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. This means an average of 10-15 cases registered daily in 184 police stations including Cyberabad police Commissionerate and women police stations.
Lawyers point out that no additional special courts have been set up to hear POCSO Act cases as mandated.
According to prosecutors, the First Metropolitan Sessions Courts or First Additional District Sessions Courts in the District courts have been designated as special courts to deal with cases registered under the POCSO Act.
Mr V. Raghunath, High Court advocate and civil and child rights activist, said, “Special judges, separate courts and public prosecutors to conduct trials under the POCSO Act, monetary support to child victims, and a witness protection system, are required to improve the disposal of the cases.”
The best deterrent against crime, he said, is the implementation of laws and certainty of punishment.
He pointed out that as per the POSCO Act, the verdict in cases of sexual assault must be given within one year after taking cognizance, but as of now this is not the case anywhere.
Those dealing with POSCO Act cases say law enforcement agencies face several challenges in disposing of cases as infrastructure and man power is insufficient.
One of the prosecutors associated with the POCSO Act cases said on condition of anonymity, “Without appointing presiding officers to deal with these cases, it will be hard to expect more disposals of cases. In the state so far there is only one child-friendly court, at HACA Bhavan in Hyderabad. There is demand from a cross section of people and directions from the higher courts for constitution of child-friendly courts in the state.”
Mr Kongara Raji Reddy, additional public prosecutor in the Ranga Reddy district courts, acknowledged that greater awareness of the laws and sensitisation through various modes of communication has seen more parents of child victims coming forward to file cases of assault.
He said, “It is unfortunate that in some of the cases from slum areas, the accused persons are members known to the victims. They are either from their own family, relatives or neighbours. It shows us how ethical values are degraded. There is some initiative to set up a child-friendly court in this court’s premises.”
