Tanisha Rana

Published on: August 26, 2022 at 21:45 IST

The Allahabad High Court recently requested the Court’s Legal Services Committee to appoint female lawyers to represent survivors in POCSO Act cases, especially when the said survivors are minors.

The single-judge bench comprising of Justice Ajay Bhanot, observed that the Legal Services Committee have very few female lawyers to appoint as counsels to represent survivors in POCSO Act cases.

The Court said, “In such circumstances, the High Court Legal Services Committee, High Court Allahabad is requested to appoint lady counsels to represent the victims especially when the victims are minor girls.”

The judge was hearing a plea filed by a man, asking for bail, who was booked for rape charges under Section 376 of the IPC and under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The man booked for rape charges had been in jail since June 8, 2021 and on 5th April, 2022, his bail plea was rejected by the trial court.

The bench while hearing his plea, observed that the survivor was a girl with speech-impairment. Considering her disability, there was no delay in lodging her FIR.

The Court, thus, held that, “The offence is grave. The likelihood of the applicant committed the offence is borne out from the records. At this stage no case for bail is made out.”

The judge also ordered that the trial court should hear the case on an everyday basis and conclude the trial within a year. Further, the judge also directed the trial court to submit a 15 days report on the progress of the case.

The court also ordered the State administrative authorities to ensure that coercive measures are adopted in an effective manner while ensuring the presence of witnesses during the hearing of the case on appointed dates before the trial court.

Advocate Ram Prakash Upadhyay was representing the accused whereas Advocate Raj Bahadur Verma was representing the survivor.

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