Bengaluru's lone child-friendly court not enough

BENGALURU: The child-friendly court established in Bengaluru to try cases of crimes against children under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been struggling to keep pace with the number of cases filed. The number of fresh cases filed under POCSO Act is more than double the number of cases disposed of by the court every month.As per the statistics provided by the law department, almost one case of crimes against children is being registered every day in the city. In last 120 days — from August 2017 to November 2017, 109 cases were registered. However, the number of cases disposed of by the POCSO court during the same period was just 45.

As many as 407 cases were pending when the child-friendly court was opened in August 2017. The number of cases at trial stage in the court as of November 30, 2017 was 471, with an average of one case added each day. For instance, 10 cases were disposed of in August as against 38 fresh cases registered in the city.

In September, the rate of fresh cases and the number of cases disposed of were almost equal. As against 17 fresh cases registered, 15 cases were disposed of in the corresponding period. In October, as many as 24 fresh cases were registered against 11 cases that were disposed of. The number of fresh cases went up in November as 30 cases were registered and only nine were disposed of.

A judicial officer said the trend showed that a single court is not enough for the city as the number of cases registered is increasing every month. “The purpose of setting up of special courts - to try the offences against minor children - will not serve its purpose if the cases are not disposed of expeditiously. In such circumstances, the government should take initiatives to set up more than one court for cities like Bengaluru where crimes against children are going up every month,” the officer said.