CHENNAI: Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) across Tamil Nadu lack the child-friendly facilities mandated for child survivors in Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cases, risking re-traumatising them and, in some places, making their identity known to members of the public.
TNIE found that several JJBs in Tamil Nadu function from rented buildings in commercial complexes, working out of cramped rooms with inadequate space, making it difficult for the boards to provide child-friendly facilities and privacy for the survivor as well as the child in conflict with the law (CCL or juvenile accused).
Each district in TN has a JJB and around 1,500 Pocso cases— in which the accused are also minors—are pending before them. Both the Pocso Act and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, emphasise that privacy of children involved must be protected.
The Pocso Act mandates a child-friendly atmosphere and states that survivors must not see the CCL while testifying. The Supreme Court directed that JJBs must have child witness deposition rooms. Besides, activists said JJBs must have a separate entry and exit route for survivors and CCLs, and a child-friendly waiting area.
TNIE’s visits to the JJBs in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Tenkasi, Thanjavur and Coimbatore revealed that none has these facilities. Child-rights activists said the situation is the same across TN; none of the JJBs are disabled-friendly either.
The Chennai JJB functions from the dining hall of an observation home. Survivors and CCLs are brought in at different times to avoid direct exposure, and curtains are used to prevent others from seeing Pocso case proceedings.
While the JJBs in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram function out of rented spaces, the Chengalpattu JJB works from a government building. Functionaries at all three JJBs noted that though they do not have the mandated facilities, they make use of curtains and stagger the timings of the arrival of survivors and CCLs to prevent them from encountering one another. However, the privacy of the children is often at risk.
For instance, the Tiruvallur JJB is located below a driving school and a court, both frequented by many. In Kancheepuram, it was learnt from a functionary that a file storage room doubles as deposition room for survivors.
In Tenkasi, the JJB functions from a 10x8 room on the ground floor of a private rented building. There is no privacy for the children as the first floor houses a NEET coaching centre and an overseas consultancy office. A staff member said that when survivors are called, the room’s doors are closed and proceedings held in camera.
The Coimbatore JJB, functioning at a government-run juvenile home, has no toilet for the children appearing before the board, forcing them to use the one at the juvenile home for which access is sometimes denied by home authorities. TNIE learnt from social welfare department officials that the JJB was renovated last year for `18 lakh but no toilets were built for the children. The lone functioning toilet is reserved for board members.
The JJB in Thanjavur functions in a government building constructed for it in 2003. It has only two functional rooms and an extended portico acting as a common waiting area for all. An official of the board said they staggered the timings of hearings for the survivor and CCLs in Pocso cases. As there is no separate deposition room, during the identification process the child may have to face the CCL, the official added.
Vincent Sundarraj, former JJB member in Krishnagir, said the JJB functions from two rented 10x10 rooms inside a shopping complex. He said survivors and CCLs might see each other in the common verandah and near the inquiry room.
As shops surround the premises, he said the children do not have privacy; members of the public sometimes stand nearby and watch the proceedings making the survivors uncomfortable while giving testimony.
A children welfare department official told TNIE that Tulir-Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, a Chennai-based NGO, had written to the TN government requesting provision of these facilities. The government has asked the department to file a report and the matter is under discussion, he said.
What law requires
Separate entry and exit routes for survivors and the child in conflict ith law (juvenile accused)
Child-friendly waiting area
Child witness deposition room
(With inputs from Thinakaran Rajamani @ Tirunelveli, N Dhamotharan @ Coimbatore, N Ramesh@ Thanjavur, Keerthana Chris M @ Chennai)