CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has issued a set of directions, including one to lower courts, to ensure day-to-day proceedings in rape and Pocso Act cases for expeditious trial and speedy delivery of justice to the victims.
Referring to an incident of two policemen raping a woman in Tiruvannamalai, the court directed the DGP to ensure the cops, who don the role of protecting women, do not turn perpetrators.
“This court directs all principal district and sessions courts, additional sessions courts, mahila courts and other special courts, presently seized of the trial of rape and sexual offence cases, to make every effort to comply with the mandatory two-month timeline under the proviso to Section 346(1) of the BNSS,” the first division bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan said in the order.
The bench issued the directions on Wednesday on the petition filed by the rape survivor, who hails from Andhra Pradesh and was subjected to the sexual assault at Tiruvannamalai, praying for expeditious prosecution and trial in rape and Pocso Act cases.
It directed the courts not to grant adjournments in any such case, except for truly exceptional reasons to be recorded in writing. The bench further directed the DGP to hold a review meeting every year to take stock of the existing supervisory mechanism to ensure cops do not indulge in crimes against women.
It stated, “The authorities should ensure that instances of this nature, where the protectors have turned predators, should never recur.”
The bench directed the state government and the registrar general of the high court to jointly ensure every Pocso case is tried by a duly constituted special court under Section 28 of the Pocso Act and the presiding officers of the courts receive training in child sensitive procedures. Further, it instructed the committee for effective implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act to regulate and monitor the progress of trials across every district.
