Supreme Court Directs NCPCR To Submit Finalised Guidelines Within Eight Weeks For Providing Support Persons For Child Victims In POCSO Cases

The Supreme Court has directed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to finalize guidelines regarding providing support persons to child victims under Section 39 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act).

The Court directed the NCPCR to submit the finalized guidelines within eight weeks. The Court emphasized that the need for a support person cannot be left to the discretion of the parents. The Court asserted that the State is obligated to provide support persons to POCSO victims which cannot be made optional unless there are sufficient reasons recorded by the Child Welfare Commission (CWC).

The Bench comprising Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice Aravind Kumar noted, “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 right to claim the assistance of such support person should be made known to the victims parents. In these circumstances, the various enumerations should be only considered as broad guidelines and illustrative but not exhaustive. 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 CWC in its order, the familiarity of support persons is mandatory. The previous judgment of this Court is forthright and categorical on this aspect”.

Senior Advocate H.S. Phoolka appeared for the Petitioner. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati with Senior Advocates Garima Prasad and Manish Singhvi, Senior Attorney General Anup Rattan with Senior Additional Attorney General Lokesh Sinhal, and Additional Attorney General Amit Anand Tiwari appeared for the Respondents.

The Court had directed the Principal Secretary to the Department of Women and Children Welfare (DWCW) to convene and frame rules or guidelines in adherence to Section 39 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has filed suggested guidelines concerning various aspects.

The Court held that the NCPCR after duly consulting the State Government and Union Government shall formulate guidelines in respect to support persons under Section 39 of the POCSO Act.

“The guidelines shall take into consideration all relevant factors including (but not confined to):-

(i) requiring a uniform standard of education of support persons for which the minimum qualification may be graduation with relevant experience in child psychology, social work or child welfare, etc.;

(ii) the general practice of limiting engagements of support persons to number of cases to a particular time limit of three years or five years should be avoided. A suggestive uniform policy should be framed eventually leading to encadrement of such persons in the concerned Ministry at the appropriate stage;

(iii) the reasonable remuneration to be paid to the support persons commensurate with the work and functions to be discharged by them;

(iv) creation of an All India Portal which will be accessible to all individuals and organizations such as JJBs and individual CWCs, which can list out the details of all support persons available in the concerned States and Union Territories; and

(v) a panel to be maintained by each State in respect of NGOs and support persons, whose services may be availed by the CWCs/JJBs. This list too should be accessible in the portal referred to in (iv) above”, the Bench noted.

Therefore, the Court directed the NCPCR to submit the finalized guidelines within eight weeks from the date of the order and to also delete any reference to the name of the child while complying with the provisions of the POCSO Act and Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act).

Accordingly, the Court listed the matter after eight weeks.

Cause Title: We The Women Of India v Union Of India & Ors. (2023 INSC 745)

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