Guest Column: The scourge of child abuse, lessons not learnt

In 2012, a child abuse horror at Apna Ghar, a non-governmental organisation (NGO)-run shelter home in Rohtak, was unearthed — a horror story of 103 children with disabilities being abused. They were, over a period, subjected to sexual assault, brutal beating, child pornography, forcible abortions, forcible intoxication, starvation, naked parading — all allegedly by shelter home caretaker Jaswanti Devi.

On the Punjab and Haryana high court’s (HC) initiative in response to a public interest litigation, a team of advocates, including the author, had travelled to 12 child relocation destinations to meet these children. A sealed cover report prompted the HC to order a CBI probe. In 2018, the prime accused was convicted for life by a CBI court, along with nine others.

Individual cases of abuse often come to light. But, it takes bigger scandals to provoke public outcry. While the authorities take their own time to react and act, the traumatised children and their families suffer in silence awaiting justice.

This past month, another tale of abuse has come to light, at a government girls school in Jind. The principal-turned-predator allegedly assaulted 60 students. It took a five-page letter penned by the girls to wake authorities up. A first information report was registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and a special investigation team is probing the case.

The bottom line is that no lessons were apparently learnt from the Apna Ghar case. The Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 (CPCRA), enjoins constitution of National Commission and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights, and Children’s Courts for providing speedy trial of offences against children or of violation of child rights. On April 9, 2013, in a petition of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) , the high court directed the state of Punjab, Haryana and UT of Chandigarh to constitute State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) forthwith, for protection and implementation of child rights under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO). The SCPCRs are now designated authorities to monitor POCSO.

POCSO is meant to protect children from offences of sexual nature and provide for establishment of Special Courts for trial of such offences, mandates women police inspectors to record statements of children at their residences, in parents’ presence. Police officers in uniform cannot investigate POCSO offences in police stations. Children cannot be repeatedly investigated in presence of accused. Probes by state education authorities may bury the truth. Electronic evidence in mobile phones, laptops and computers, will vanish in a tardy probe, where a court, handicapped of evidence, may end up in acquittal, exampled by the Nithari rape and murder killing case. Will this case also go down the same road?

Who will bell the cat? The state of Haryana may choose to follow the conventional process, despite JJA, POCSO and CPCRA. Sadly, SCPCR meant to be headed by a HC judge, is not the case. HC intervention for urgently taking over investigation forthwith by an independent agency, duly monitored, is the starting point. Immediate medical examination, seizing all electronic gadgets of accused and school staff, recording of statements of children as per POCSO mandate, and specifying a children’s court for speedy trial through in-camera proceedings, are possible measures. This process was followed in the Apna Ghar case. Result: a speedy trial and conviction.

The Justice Verma Committee report, after the Nirbhaya incident in 2012, suggested “an oversight mechanism” through the high court, observing “there is an urgent need to audit performance of all institutions to governance of law and order.” An authoritative judgement of justice AK Sikri in 2013, left imprints for creating SCPCRs. POCSO is a wholesome law. All child offenders must be charged, tried and punished expeditiously. Speedy, stringent and relentless pursuit of POCSO is a remedy and cure. Today’s children are tomorrow’s future.

(The writer is a Chandigarh-based lawyer of Punjab and Haryana high court. Views expressed are his personal.)