CHENNAI: The Madras High Court stressed the need to bring in remedial measures to help children who have witnessed grave crimes to overcome the mental agony.
A division bench of Justices MS Ramesh and N Senthilkumar while hearing an appeal filed by a murder convict who killed his own sister in front of her eight-year-old daughter, noted that while the Pocso Act provides remedial measures for child sexual assault victims, no such mechanism is available for the children who have witnessed grave crimes.
The appellant, P Saravanakumar of Coimbatore, murdered his sister on April 7, 2018, over a quarrel in the family and mutilated the body in front of the deceased’s daughter. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Principal Sessions and District Court in Coimbatore on April 22, 2022. Praying for setting aside the conviction and sentence, he filed the appeal.
Senior counsel Abudukumar Rajarathnam, appearing for Saravanakumar, informed the court that as he has been suffering from schizophrenia, his psychological conditions have to be evaluated and due remedial measures be taken.
At the same time, he noted that the deceased’s daughter would have undergone severe trauma, and the incident might have left a psychological scar on her future.
He suggested that the government establish a mechanism to conduct psychological evaluation of children who have witnessed violent crimes and provide them counselling to overcome the impact of the chilling incidents.
The bench concurred with these submissions, saying that it has “no words to express the agony and anguish” which the child would have undergone and the subsequent trauma in the following years.
The bench suo motu impleaded top officials of the centre and the state, including the Secretaries of Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and TN Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department. It also directed the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) ARL Sundaresan and Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran to file a preliminary report in the court on the views of these departments to bring in remedial measures to children who are witness to grave crime.
Stating that it was informed that there is no policy or programme to ensure these child victims become physically fit, mentally alert and morally healthy, the bench noted that the National Policy for Children was also not being implemented.