Abuse of kids

Express News Service
Cases of sexual abuse of kids are on the rise within the state and so is the misuse of Pocso Act to implicate rivals or nook the partner in custody battle. Police too are both not skilled sufficient to probe such instances or are hamstrung by stringent procedures.  TNIE analyses the state of affairs

KOCHI: Kerala has been witnessing a spurt within the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act instances and likewise incidents of misuse of the Act that are posing a serious problem to the state police and different enforcement companies involved. In truth, a number of complaints that turned out to be faux have uncovered the lack of awareness amongst cops in dealing with such instances. There have been instances by which individuals had been trapped by grown-ups who use kids to degree false sexual abuse fees in an act of vengeance.

Justice Ok Narayana Kurup, former chairman of the State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA), is aware of higher than anybody how Pocso Act is getting used to implicate harmless individuals.It was due to his valiant effort that an Edakochi native may show his innocence in a case which was foisted on him by an individual in connivance with a number of policemen in 2016. 

In July 2016, Suresh Kumar, a faculty bus driver, was arrested on fees of sexually abusing a five-year-old boy contained in the bus. A staff led by Justice Kurup, who was the then SPCA chairman, discovered that the police had used third diploma strategies on Suresh and that the sexual abuse grievance lodged by the boy’s father was false. 

“It wasn’t an easy task and we really put in a lot of effort to prove his innocence. We proved the plot hatched after analysing call data records. The child’s father had animosity with the driver. We analysed the victim’s statement and found that it was impossible for the driver to abuse the child inside the moving bus during a short trip,” Justice Kurup advised TNIE. He mentioned the police should perform an in depth preliminary inquiry earlier than arresting any particular person in a Pocso case. 

Sandhya Rani, former particular public prosecutor within the Ernakulam Special Pocso Court, mentioned the Act is being primarily misused by those that struggle authorized battle for custody of kids in household courts. “We should be really careful while handling abuse cases involving children of parents fighting for legal separation. There may be genuine cases, but most of them are fabricated. Even courts are taking a guarded approach while hearing such cases,” she mentioned. In 2019, the Kerala High Court identified the rising tendency to misuse the Act and foist false instances in custody battles for youngsters. 

State Police Chief Loknath Behera had additionally issued an order advising officers to probe instances with diligence after a number of situations of such misuse got here to the discover. However, Pocso instances are nonetheless being investigated by cops who should not correctly skilled for a similar. In most instances, investigation is solely primarily based on the oral testimonies of shut family of the sufferer. Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights member Nazeer Chaliyam mentioned, “The Pocso Act came into force in 2012. Many officers are still not fully equipped to handle such cases.” 

Child Welfare Committee (CWC) vice-president Ok S Arunkumar mentioned loads of procedures must be adopted in a Pocso case and these delay the method. A senior police officer mentioned cops investigating such instances should observe a number of pointers. “Apart from collecting the victim’s statement, evidence gathering is a major challenge. It’s a delicate situation because direct questions referring to the traumatic incident must be avoided by the officer who will be under tremendous pressure,” the officer added.

Flawed method?In most Pocso instances, the investigation is solely primarily based on the oral testimonies of the shut family of the sufferer