POCSO Act issues and challenges: How courts responded in 2022

Supreme Court judge, Justice BV Nagarathna touched upon another important aspect – pendency as far as POCSO cases are concerned.

She said that setting up more fast track courts to try POCSO cases is futile unless it is complemented by appointments of more judges, and training and sensitization of judges, public prosecutors and police personnel.

The Supreme Court judge was referring to the Central government's proposal to set up nearly 400 new fast track POCSO Courts to tackle the pendency of nearly 2.26 lakh cases throughout the country.

As per data released in a year end press release by Department of Justice, Ministry of Law, 733 fast track courts with 413 exclusive POCSO Courts have been operationalized in 28 States/UTs which have disposed of more than 1,24,000 cases.

Another Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhatlamented the fact that the POCSO Act was currently being understood in a rather unidimensional manner.

He said that under the Act, the focus now is more on effective prosecution and conviction of the perpetrator. He, however, suggested that the victim-child's rehabilitation should be given equal priority.

“Unfortunately, the POCSO Act is understood rather unidimensionally. The abhorrent nature of the crime, where the young children are victims, securing punishment corners much of our attention. For the very same reason, the focus on restorative justice in the form of the child's rehabilitation and healing is equally important. Balancing these while focusing on a child-centric and rights-based approach, which are the pillars of our juvenile justice system, necessitate a review of how different stakeholders [are] adapting to the special rigors and facilitating the wide protections that this legislation affords children.“

In 2022, a child-friendly Special Court for trying cases under the POCSO Act in Kerala, which was inaugurated in the Ernakulam District Court complex, a step in the right direction in keeping with the spirit of the Act.

2023 would hopefully see more such positive reforms and steps to augment the purpose of the law.