Child witness court non-functional for week

hrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 25

In a major violation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the child witness court at the District Courts here has been non-functional for over a week. This means that minor victims of heinous crimes like rape are being exposed to their perpetrators during the trial. The POCSO Act says that courts must ensure that there is no eye contact between the victim and the accused.

It has been learnt that a technical glitch is not being taken care of since last week and the trials of all cases are on in a regular court. The child witness court on the ground floor has a special room covered with an opaque glass where the accused is made to stand. This way an eye contact between the accused and the victim is not possible. The accused can only listen to what is being said by the victim, but cannot see the child.

The child identifies the victim through a screen where the accused is shown. A camera is placed in the room where the accused is present.

Advocate Manjit Kaur Sandhu, who is also on the POCSO panel, said, “It is pertinent that the court stays functional to prevent further trauma to the child, who has already been abused”. Even last week, the chief and cross-examination of a 15-year-old male rape victim took place in a regular court while the 34-year-old woman rape accused was in the court. After a while, the court realised the lapse and the child was called near the Judge’s chair where a wooden partition separated him from the accused.

The victim in the case had even tried to move an application demanding action against the accused, who was allegedly trying to contact the victim. The application had specifically stated that the accused was staring at the victim in the court as well as outside it.

2nd such court of country

The court was inaugurated in February 2016 and was said to be the first of its kind in the region and the second in the country after Delhi. It was set up keeping in view the safety and security of child victims in the court and the entire proceedings were to take place via video-conferencing.