65% Pocso cases pending in Delhi, several accused walk free

Experts say delays in the completion of forensic reports and deposition of witnesses, and some victims being untraceable are the reasons for the pendency

On July 30, Asafak Alam, 29, was arrested for the rape and murder of a five-year old girl in Ernakulam, Kerala. It emerged that he was out on bail for the molestation of a Class 5 girl in Delhi’s Ghazipur in March 2018, a case that is pending trial.

According to the data, a total of 12,667 cases are pending trial out of which 4,411 are pending for less than a year; 5,855 cases for 1-3 years; 1,947 cases for 3-5 years; 402 cases for 5-10 years; and 52 cases for more than a year. (Representational Image/Getty Images)

Read here: Principal, warden and seven students booked under Pocso Act: Cops

That’s a violation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012, in spirit of not letter. According to the act, “the evidence of the child shall be recorded within a period of thirty days of the Special Court taking cognizance of the offence and the Special Court shall complete the trial, as far as possible, within a period of one year from the date of taking cognizance of the offence”.

But it turns out that Alam’s case is not an exception but the norm. A little over 65% of cases related to sexual offices committed against minors have been pending trial for at least a year, resulting in the release of several offenders on bail, according to data shared by Delhi Police.

Former chairperson, Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Anurag Kundu believes that background checks are important to keep sexual offenders away from children. “If police and employers can conduct a strong background check on such offenders and keep them away from places such as schools, hospitals, clinics, playgrounds then the problem can be solved to a large extent - though not fully,” he said. Technology can play an enabler role in ensuring robust background checks, he added.

According to the data, a total of 12,667 cases are pending trial out of which 4,411 are pending for less than a year; 5,855 cases for 1-3 years; 1,947 cases for 3-5 years; 402 cases for 5-10 years; and 52 cases for more than a year.

The situation at the national level is no different.

According to a 2022 report by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, it takes one year and five months on average to depose a case against the one-year mandated period. Uttar Pradesh, according to the report, had the highest pendency at 77.7%.

Experts say delays in the completion of forensic reports and deposition of witnesses, and some victims being untraceable are the reasons for the pendency.

Advocate Rajiv Agnihotri who practices in the Supreme Court and has been a counsel in several Pocso cases said some victims do not even want to be part of the process.

“There is social stigma involved when a woman or child is sexually assaulted or rape. In many cases, victims and their families relocate. In several cases, it takes time to convince them to come to court.”

In some cases, he added, it takes more than two years for forensic reports to be completed.

“Another important factor is witnesses taking months to come to depose. For instance, if a minor has been kidnapped from Delhi and is sexually assaulted in another city, her medical examination and recording of statement before the court takes place in the city where the assault is committed, but investigation will be carried out by Delhi Police. The doctor who conducted the medical examination in another city will be summoned to depose and in most cases, they take months to appear before the courts,” he said.

Interestingly, there seem to be few delays at the level of the police.

Special commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Singh Yadav said the police prepare charge sheets in 60 days in most cases. “We take Pocso cases very seriously and barring a few exceptions, all the reported cases are chargesheeted within 60 days. And those exceptions also do not take not more another 30 days.”

Delhi Police data shows that out of 1142 such cases reported in 2022, 1140 were chargesheeted; out of 1206 cases in 2021, charge sheets were prepared in 1204.

Delhi Police maintains and publishes registry of convicted sexual offenders for people for people’s safety. However, the viewership of the list is restricted to those who are aware and those who have access to technology.

A serving superintendent of Tihar prison who did not wish to be named said, “The prison gives everyone a chance to get reformed but those who don’t want to change themselves cannot be helped by any agency or medium”.

Bharti Ali, activist and co-founder of HAQ Centre of Child Rights which had conducted a study on implementation of Pocso Act in Delhi, Assam and Haryana said pendency can be avoided if cases involving romantic relationships are decriminalised.

“The courts are overburdened with Pocso cases involving love relationships which are not exploitative in nature and are mostly filed by parents of the girl. Such cases go on trial for years and take up a lot of time of the courts. It’s important that adolescent consensual sexual relationships are decriminalised and the age of consent is reduced to 16 instead of 18 .”

To be sure, repeat offences are also perpetrated by those that have served their sentence fully, pointing to the need to keep track of such criminals, the way some other countries do.

Read here: POCSO convict rapes 4-year-old in Madhya Pradesh a year after release from jail

On Thursday, in Bihar’s Satna, a five-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and raped by a man identified as Rakesh Verma who recently came out of jail after being imprisoned for 10 years for raping another minor.

And in Delhi in March this year, a 36-year-old man identified as Pervinder Singh allegedly killed a 15-year-old boy for resisting sexual abuse and then sodomised the corpse. , Singh was found to have raped a five-year-old boy in Haryana’s Kundli , a case in which he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail. But he filed an application in court for a review of his sentence, and during Covid-19 his sentence was suspended and he was freed.