New SOP in Kerala to bring some relief to sexually abused children

In the latest instance, a 17-year-old girl at Kannur district in Kerala alleged of sexual torture from the chairman of district CWC

To save sexually abused children from further torture in the name of enquiries, a revised standard operating procedure (SOP) being brought out by the Kerala government on handling cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) is likely to bring some relief to the minor victims of sexual assaults.

In the latest instance, a 17-year-old girl at Kannur district in Kerala alleged of sexual torture from the chairman of district Child Welfare Committee (CWC), E D Joseph, during the detailed statement recording.

Joseph allegedly enquired in detail about the extent of sexual assault the girl faced, which caused further trauma to her. She deposed the matter before the court following which a Pocso case was registered against Joseph who was placed under suspension.

Child rights activists point out that children who face sexual assault are facing further sexual torture owing to statement recording by multiple agencies like Childline, police and CWC.

Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KeSCPCR) former member advocate J Sandhya told DH that agencies like CWC need not record details of the extent of sexual assault, which is the job of the police. CWCs only need to see if the child requires care and protection.

She added that there were instances in which sexual assault victim children had to depose in detail about the ordeal they suffered for at least ten times or more before various welfare agencies and investigation teams. Such acts sabotage the efforts to relieve children from the mental trauma they suffered and aggravate it further.

Kerala Women and Child Development department director T V Anupama said that many such issues pertaining to the handling of sexual assault cases were noted, and hence a new SOP was being prepared, which would also prescribe the extent to which the CWCs could collect details from a sexual abuse victim.

The draft SOP prepared by former chairperson of KeSCPCR Shobha Koshy also stresses that only friendly interactions should be there with the sexual abuse victims and there should not be any sort of questioning. Discussions are being held with retired judicial officers, psychologists and child rights experts and the SOP is expected to be finalised by end of this month, he said.

Meanwhile, Sandhya said that there was a need to sensitise the officials handling child abuse cases, as many seem to be thinking that counselling is a process to dig out facts from victims. "The intention of subjecting sexual abuse victims to counselling is to help reduce their trauma. However, in some instances, the police felt that the victims need to be subjected to counselling for extracting the facts," she said.

Kerala has been witnessing an increasing trend in Pocso cases over the years. Sexual assaults against women and children were also reported to be high during the lockdown days. While 3,609 such cases were registered in the state in 2019, in 2018 it was 3,179 and in 2017 it was 2,697.