Kerala child rights panel stresses on training for stakeholders in POCSO cases

A single window mechanism, providing coordinated services of doctor, psychologist, police, advocate and prosecutor, should be set up in all districts of Kerala to ensure justice for children, who survived sexual offences and maximum punishment for the guilty, a recent webinar opined.

All stakeholders from doctors to judges should be given special training in connection with the implementation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), to ensure speedy justice to the child victims of sexual assault, the recent webinar, organised by the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR), said.

The webinar was organised for the rights' panel officials, who deal with the POCSO cases in northern Kasaragod and Kannur. Kasaragod additional district judge and POCSO special judge R L Biju, who inaugurated the webinar, urged the child rights panel to take steps to impart necessary training in this regard.

Training, as per the guidelines issued by the Kerala High Court recently, is inevitable to ensure punishment for the guilty and collective responsibility of various stakeholders, he said.

The judge also said the change in the behaviour and attitude of assault survivors should also be taken into account while collecting evidence during the investigation of the case.

Expert training is inevitable to record minute details, like the child victim's reluctance to communicate and his or her absence for weeks from school, and bring them as evidence before the court, he added.

Panel chairman K V Manoj Kumar said the core objective of the KSCPCR was to bring in a social condition in which no child was molested in the state.

The rights panel is implementing an ambitious drive titled "child-friendly Kerala", to create awareness about this among children and parents, he noted adding that special training would be imparted to all stakeholders in this regard as part of the project.