THOOTHUKUDI: An exclusive court to deal cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act is likely to be established in Thoothukudi as more than 100 cases of child abuse have been pending in the district so far in 2019.
In July 2019, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, in the Assembly, said, “In Tamil Nadu, over 1,544 cases were registered under POCSO Act in 2015; 1,567 in 2016; 1,587 in 2017; and 2,045 in 2018. Over 1,043 child rape cases have been registered between January 1 and June 30 in 2019 in the State.”
On July 25, 2019, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi directed the Centre to set up exclusive courts to try the pending POCSO cases following reports on the rise in such cases. The chief justice also directed the setting up special courts within 60 days in districts where more than 100 such cases have been pending.
Lower charge-sheeting rate
According to a State Crime Record Bureau (SCRB) data for 2016, Thoothukudi district topped the chart with 235 cases registered under the POCSO Act, followed by Villupuram (231 cases) and Chennai (230 cases). District-wise data is not yet available for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019. However, the sources in the district administration said that only 58 out of 235 POCSO cases registered in 2016 have been charge-sheeted till now, 55 in 2017, 107 in 2018 and 69 so far in 2019. Child Rights Advocate Athisayakumar said the rate of charge-sheeting POCSO cases shows a lukewarm action against these cases from the district police.
Speaking to TNIE, a top official from the Revenue department, said that Collector Sandeep Nanduri had forwarded a shortlist of candidates for the post of public prosecutor to the State which is yet to select the public prosecutor for the exclusive court.