Cops not reporting POCSO cases to CWCs: DCPCR

New Delhi: The Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has now written to the Delhi Police Commissioner, asking him to direct Station House Officers in police stations to mandatorily report all POCSO cases to Child Welfare Committees within 24 hours of registering the FIR.

The child rights body here wrote to Commissioner Asthana, reminding the Delhi Police that the reporting of POCSO cases is mandated by the very legislation as it provides for the child to be produced before CWCs if there is a reasonable apprehension that the abuser/perpetrator lives in the same household as the victim, or if the child is housed in an institution, or is without any parental or institutional support, the letter from DCPCR chief Anurag Kundu to the Delhi Police chief said.

Kundu noted that local police stations are not reporting these cases to the CWCs as they were either unaware of the mandated rules or were "unconcerned" about the provisions of the law.

"Non-reporting of the case to the Child Welfare Committee means no measures of integration and rehabilitation of the child who has to undergo the trauma of sexual violence… this step would go a long way in ensuring the recovery from the trauma-induced to POCSO victims and their families," the letter to the Delhi Police read.

Significantly, the DCPCR, under Kundu, has consistently raised issues with the Juvenile Justice system - including the measures meant to protect the rights of the children in conflict with the law. Several times in the past, the DCPCR chief has raised concerns over the design of Juvenile Justice laws, the gaps in them and the lack of implementation on the ground.

In August last year, the DCPCR chief had pointed out that in the current laws, there is an absence of procedural guidelines for transferring or referring a child from the Juvenile Justice Board to the Child Welfare Committee by declaring him and her as a child in need of care and protection (CNCP).

In addition, the rights body had found there was an absence of legally binding guidelines for conducting Medico-Legal cases of child victims of sexual violence and an absence of procedural details for the functioning of the high-level committee under section 16 (2) of the JJ Act 2015. It had also noted that there were no detailed guidelines for probe officers who investigate cases where minors are either accused or victims.