India is one of the leading nations in developing extensive welfare, development as well as protection mechanism for the children. It has health and nutrition schemes for the children between 0-6 years, free education and midday meal for the children between 6-14 years under the RTE Act and the NFSA and universal secondary education scheme for the children between 14-18 years. It has also developed protection mechanism and law for the hapless children, for the children in conflict with law and the sexually-abused children.
In 2012, the Union Government enacted a very stringent law and the associated rules, called the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and Rules for the nation’s zero tolerance to sexual abuse of children and laying down special procedures and systems for a child-friendly investigation and trial. There is sufficient provision for rehabilitation of children in need of care and protection and the sexually-abused children.
There are institutions for the protection of children too such as the National and State Commissions for the protection of the rights of children, district-level child welfare committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, district-level child protection units, child desks in police stations and so on.
In spite of the existence of all kinds of child protection laws, systems and institutions, the Kundi rape complainant, a Class-IX SC student, felt helpless and committed suicide. The sad incidence leaves behind lots of teachings to all those in authority and other stakeholders.
There are two dimensions of the Kundi case. One relates to the delivery of “justice” to the complainant; the second relates to “rehabilitation” of the child. Though everyone focussed on the investigation part, the rehabilitation aspect was forgotten. The child was not gravely ill when she filed her FIR. There was enough time of three months to rehabilitate and mainstream her. This was irrespective of the valid status of the accusation. She needed even more care if she was believed to be mentally unstable .There is enough provision under the Juvenile Justice Act.
Police have the power to investigate after an FIR is lodged. The truthfulness of the complaint has to be verified basing on witnesses, health examination, forensics examination of clothes, circumstantial evidences, TI parades and so on. In this case, the investigation faced challenges as the allegation was levelled against the armed personnel. The police thought the girl was lying or she was instigated by Maoists to undermine the morale of the armed personnel or the Maoists themselves did the crime. Some discussed it to be a love affair case and others thought it as a case of mental instability. Clouds of confusion prevailed leading to the State Government employing multiple layers of investigation starting from a Crime Branch inquiry to a judicial commission probe. The matter became complicated gradually.
In future, the police must solely go with the provisions of the POCSO Act and Rules which have clearly laid down procedures even if the matter is perceived as false or the child’s mental health was doubtful. The judicial process must be allowed to take over. Later, investigation reports shall follow.
The WCD Department was responsible for providing medical and educational rehabilitation facilities to a victim child and it undertook some steps like putting her in care home, sending her to local residential hostels, giving medical care. But they did not continue the rehabilitation measure to its logical end. If the child was not comfortable in the local schools, she should have been put in a residential school outside the district, private or Government. If the child suspected the Government medical system, private medical service could have been provided to her with the presence of family members at home or in a Bhubaneswar-based private hospital.
Termination of medical service including trauma counselling as well as educational mainstreaming left the child isolated, leading to her suicide. Probably, there was lack of clarity in leadership with regard to the rehabilitation part: Home or WCD Department or the CWC. In future cases, the WCD Department should take a lead role and start rehab process immediately. The department should issue step-by-step rehabilitation guidelines for such cases and should take leadership for rehabilitation till the child is integrated to mainstream. For example, the Delhi Government has created crisis-centres; and Odisha might evolve a similar mechanism.
Political parties are the pillars of a democracy. The opposition parties shall play their role in highlighting the failure of the Government. In the Kunduli case, they intervened rightfully, but they focussed on the investigation aspect and forgot the rehabilitation part. Social workers too failed in their role. The victim accused two social workers of pressuring her to dilute her case. Some social workers did a public hearing which is legally and psychologically not recommended. Though the media did its job by maintaining the confidentially of the victim, their too-much interactions with her could have created mental pressure on her.
The major characteristic of the case is that it happened in a Maoist- infected area. Residents in the insurgency areas remain under a twin pressure of police and he outlawed groups, both using residents as baits. Police for sometime believed that Maoists did the Kunduli crime wearing police uniform. Since the victim said she could identify at least one of the accused, a TI parade could have been done to rule out any suspicion.
There is a need for greater awareness of the Special Forces on the POCSO ACT. There is also a need of setting up of a “public sexual complain committee” in each field unit of the armed forces to expedite in-house investigation to ascertain the truth. Again, there is a need for inclusion of sexual harassment prevention guideline in the “standard operating procedure” of the forces. The WCD Department should initiate a dialogue with police and Special Forces. They may consider wearing cameras like the traffic police. The State and national Commissions for the protection of the rights of children should become active in such situations.