New Delhi: The supreme court on Monday expressed its concern over delay in disposal of cases relating to sexual offences against children.
With a view to ascertain the status of such cases across the country, the apex court directed the registrar generals of the high courts in the country to collect and collate data regarding the pendency of cases booked under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act.
The SC directive came when lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava pointed out that large number of cases are pending in various courts.
“1100 cases have been disposed of out of 1,01,326 cases,” pointed out Srivastava referring to the 2016 data of Ntional Crime Records Bureau(NCRB). According to him, only 11% of the cases have been decided by the trial courts in that year.
Srivastava, while seeking compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the parents of an eight-month old baby who was allegedly raped by her 28 year old cousin in Delhi on January 28, 2018, has sought framing of guidelines that investigation and trial of the cases involving rape of children below the age of 12 years, under POCSO Act, should be completed within six months from the date of lodging FIR.
A bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud directed its registry to communicate the order to the registrars general of the high courts seeking a district wise detailed report on pendency of cases and posted the matter for hearing on April 20.
