Child-friendly atmosphere must, while dealing with cases under POCSO

One for the major reasons for the poor conviction rate of cases under Prevention Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act is because of the lack of child friendly atmosphere in courts and also in the process of investigations carried out by police machinery. Apart from the lack of infrastructure, there is an urgent need for sensitising all stake holders to deal with minor survivors in such cases. These were some of the major conclusions drawn on Tuesday in a national conference called on by the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW).

The MSCW had organised a national level conference to discuss the recent amendments introduced in the POCSO Act by the government in April this year. The conference witnessed a major turnout with chairpersons of over seven state women commissions, attending the event along with Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) from 21 states across India.

The conference chaired by MSCW chief Vijaya Rahatkar had a series of discussions on POCSO law ranging from its importance to the challenges faced by courts, police machinery and also the medico-legal experts in investigating or dealing with such cases.

“It is often said children are the future of our nation so it is our primary duty to protect the childhood. We cannot ignore the trend of rising incidents of sexual abuse against children,” Rahatkar said.

"I believe the MSCW or the CWC alone cannot bring about any change. There is a need for all of us be it women commissions, child rights commissions, CWCs, NGOs, police authorities, judiciary, every one of us have to come together and work to bring down the rising number of sexual offences against children" Rahatkar urged the audience.

During the discussions, majorly every expert be it a judicial officer, a police officer or a psychiatrist, everyone pointed out the lack of child-friendly courts in Maharashtra.

“There are no child friendly courts in Maharashtra which compels us to call the child in a normal court. Stepping in such a court is traumatising for the child. There is a need to setup childfriendly courts in state so that a child does not carry the trauma through out his or her life," said Judge Vandana Tendulkar, a sitting judge of Goa sessions court.

Chiranjeev Prasad, the top cop of Aurangabad police also voiced a similar concern.

“I believe there must be sensitization of all stake holders in such matters especially the police officers. The way they treat adult victims or cases not involving minors is different. The same approach cannot be used in POCSO cases. The police officers must change their mentality and attitude,” Prasad said.