New Delhi: Public prosecutors must be trained to deal with child victims and witnesses in sexual harassment cases, the Supreme Court has said and laid emphasis on the need to develop a programme to train them.
The top court said there is a need to have exclusive special public prosecutors for cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
“They need to know how to bring out the truth from children who are victims of sexual abuse and have to undergo the trauma again while recounting the traumatic experience. The job assigned to the public prosecutor for POCSO cases is a very onerous one which must be carried out with great care and sensitivity,” a bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose said Sunday.
“Therefore not only is there a need to have exclusive public prosecutors but there is also a need to develop a training programme where these special public prosecutors should be trained to deal with issues which will arise in their courts. These issues may not be confined to legal issues which otherwise public prosecutors may be trained to deal with. The issues may be psychological, health and other related issues,” the bench added.
The apex court directed all states to appoint exclusive public prosecutors in all the courts that have been set up exclusively for POCSO cases.
“We request the Chief Justices of all High Courts to ensure that in the judicial academy of the state special programmes are developed so that these special public prosecutors attached to POCSO courts are imparted training not only in law but also in child psychology, child behaviour, health issues, etc,” the bench stated.
“We also request the Director of the National Judicial Academy to ensure that a training programme is developed to train master trainers who can then work in the judicial academies in each state. We realize that the National Judicial Academy cannot train all the special public prosecutors in the country but they can prepare a team of master trainers who can travel from state to state to impart training to the persons appointed as special public prosecutors,” the bench said.
The apex court was hearing a petition with regard to ‘alarming rise in the number of reported child rape incidents’ after taking suo motu cognisance.
PTI
