The Supreme Court has rightly pointed out the lack of justice in cases of child rape across the country.
According to statistics, shared by the apex court, 1.5 lakh cases of child rape victims and their families are awaiting justice since 2012 from special courts constituted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. This revelation was part of a report prepared by the Supreme Court Registry and amicus curiae senior advocate V Giri after a bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi took suo motu cognisance of the rising number of child rape cases in the country.
It is a matter of grave concern that even after water-tight laws have been made by various state governments the non-disposal of the cases is staring back at the judicial system like a hydra-headed problem. The report said about 670 courts across the country deal with the 1.5 lakh POCSO offences, making it an average of 224 cases that a single judge has to decide daily. It also gave interesting insights into the causes that delay trial and investigation under the Act.
The highest pendency under POCSO was recorded in Uttar Pradesh (44,376 cases) followed by Maharashtra (19,968) and Madhya Pradesh (9878) with there being a steady flow of 33,000 fresh cases getting registered across the country each year.
The average annual disposal rate of cases was 24%. The remaining 76% undisposed cases caused a pile-up over the last five years by almost 15 times. Considering this, it is for anyone to see that if measures are not initiated in earnest the very purpose of the Act will be defeated as cases would get added making it an even more gargantuan task. Not only this, one glaring hole that is causing delays in deciding POCSO cases was poor judge-case ratio. Although the ideal ratio, as per the report, was 1:60, it is being achieved currently only by Chandigarh and Punjab, and to some extent Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
The delay in trial has also been attributed to the lack of forensic labs. On average, samples take six to nine months to get examined and as such labs are not in proportion. The report also emphasizes the need to have child-friendly courtrooms.
The court directed the Centre to ensure POCSO courtrooms are designed in a manner that the victim gets a support person in a room separate from the courtroom from where only the support person gets to interact with the prosecution and judge. As part of Giri’s suggestion to improve awareness on the subject, the court directed the Centre to ensure that a short clip sensitising people on child abuse with helpline numbers is screened in movie halls and shown in television channels, besides at schools and public places.
All said and done, the need of the hour is to push the emergency button, throw down the gauntlet in order to reduce the pendency of the cases drastically and bring justice to those who matter.
