NGOs step up demand for children’s court in South Goa

Panaji: Looking at the number of cases pending in Goa's lone children's court, NGOs want the state government to set up a second children's court in the state in south Goa. The present pendency of the only children's court in the state is 416 cases.

As per the children's court records, of 416 cases pending, 253 cases were reported in the north and 163 cases are in south Goa. Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN), the NGO which has assisted over 800 children who came in contact with Goa police, wrote a letter to the department of women and child development, requesting the state government to set up a separate children's court for south Goa district looking at the pendency in both the districts.

Child protection coordinator Emidio Pinho said that setting up of a children's court in south Goa will reduce the travelling distance for victims and witnesses. He also said that cases registered in south Goa are on the rise and there is inadequate space to handle so many cases in the present court.

Pinho said that it will also reduce the travelling time for police officers from south Goa to travel to north Goa to attend the cases. "Setting up the second children's court will help for faster disposal of cases," he added. The Goa law commission had also proposed for setting up of a children's court for both districts. The law commission recommended an amendment to the Children's Act, 2003, by substituting the words 'Children's Court' by the words "children's court for each district in the state of Goa" and requested the high court to appoint an additional sessions judge to function as full-time judge of the children's court.

On August 6, 2010, Ramakant Khalap, then chairman of the law commission had submitted the report to the chief minister. Earlier, South Goa advocates' association had also requested the state government to set up a children's court in south Goa. It's president, Rajeev Gomes, said the association made a request for a separate children's court for the south district a long time ago. Goa is the first state to have a full-fledged children's court.