Supreme Court To Centre: Set Up Special POCSO Courts On Priority Basis

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the central government to set up on a "top priority basis" dedicated POCSO courts to exclusively deal with cases of sexual offences against children.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and P B Varale said since the timelines have been stipulated under the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for all stages, right from the stage of investigation to trial, the same must be adhered to as far as possible.

The bench said that because of the inadequacy of the number of exclusive courts for the POCSO Cases, the timelines mandated in the Act for completion of the trials are not being maintained.

"It is therefore expected that the Union of India and the State Governments shall take appropriate steps to sensitize the officials associated with the investigation of POCSO cases, and also to create dedicated courts to try POCSO Cases on top priority basis, and to see to it that the chargesheets are filed within the mandatory period stipulated in the Act, and the trials are completed within the time frame as contemplated in the Act," said the apex court.

The bench said, "Having regard to the chart showing the status of POCSO cases and POCSO courts in each state, it appears that majority of the states with the funding from the central government have complied with the directions issued by the court for setting up exclusive courts for POCSO cases, however, in certain States like Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Maharashtra etc., there is still a need to create more POCSO Courts considering the pendency of the POCSO cases."

Earlier, the apex court had directed senior advocate and amicus curiae V Giri and senior advocate Uttara Babbar to submit state-wise details on the status of POCSO courts. The apex court delivered the judgment in a suo moto case titled "alarming rise in the number of reported child rape incidents".

"During the hearing of the issues involved, the Court had also expected the State Governments to establish dedicated Forensic Science Laboratories for POCSO Cases to expedite the investigation and had also expressed grave concern about the inadequate number of Public Prosecutors in the POCSO courts. The issues about providing security to the Victim and the Witnesses in the Unnao Case were also addressed by passing necessary orders”, said the apex court.

The Supreme Court made it clear that its July 2019 direction to set up one court in each district with more than 100 FIRs under POCSO Act meant a designated court would only deal with such cases under the law.

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