LI Network
Published on: October 15, 2023 at 14:16 IST
The Supreme Court has emphasized the responsibility of the State under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2023 to provide ‘support persons’ to child victims of sexual offenses. Importantly, the Court has made it clear that the appointment of support persons for these child victims is not optional and should not be subject to the discretion of the child’s parents.
A bench composed of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar delivered this ruling.
The Court stated:
“This Court is of the opinion that the need for support person should not be left to the discretion of the parents; in all cases, the option of availability of support person and the right to claim the assistance of such support person should be made known to the victims’ parents.
The State has an obligation to provide support persons to POCSO victims, which cannot be made optional. Unless there are good reasons recorded by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in its order, the familiarity of support persons is mandatory.”
This decision builds upon an earlier order from August 18, where the Court stressed the importance of appointing ‘support persons’ for child victims and directed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to file a status report outlining the progress made by all states in framing guidelines as per Section 39 of the POCSO Act, which pertains to guidelines for children to seek assistance from experts during the legal process.
In its latest order dated October 9, the Court directed the NCPCR to consult with all state governments and Union Territories to formulate model guidelines based on which states and Union Territories can establish their rules regarding support persons under Section 39 of the POCSO Act.
The Court suggested that initially, the NCPCR may draft guidelines that can be circulated to all states, and after considering their feedback and suggestions, the final guidelines can be determined.
The present petition was filed by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, raising concerns related to the protection provided to victims under the POCSO Act.
According to the 2020 POCSO Rules, a ‘support person’ is defined as “someone assigned by a child welfare committee to provide assistance to a child during the investigation and trial process or any person assisting a child pre-trial or during the trial for offenses under the POCSO Act, 2012.”
The Court’s scrutiny revealed that the necessity for a support person should be a mandatory provision, and it should not be at the discretion of the child’s parents. In all cases, parents should be informed about the availability of support persons and their right to seek assistance from them.
At the conclusion of the order, the Court listed several factors that the NCPCR should consider when formulating the guidelines. These factors, while exhaustive, include establishing a uniform standard of education for support persons, remuneration, the duration of their engagements, the creation of an accessible national portal listing support persons, and the maintenance of a panel by each state regarding NGOs and support persons.
The Court has set an eight-week timeline for finalizing and submitting these guidelines.
This case is titled “WE THE WOMEN OF INDIA v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS., Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s).1156/2021.”
