Madras High Court Directs Tamil Nadu to Form Panel on POCSO and Child Law Gaps

The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary to constitute a committee comprising the Home Secretary, Health Secretary, and Law Secretary to address systemic gaps in implementing criminal laws relating to children.

A Division Bench comprising Justices G.R. Swaminathan and V. Lakshminarayanan issued the directions while disposing of a public interest litigation petition filed by advocate S. Venkatesh of Madurai. The judges directed the State government to consider a set of court-formulated suggestions and submit a response within four months.

The PIL petitioner had sought a court direction compelling the State government to file a curative petition before the Supreme Court against the acquittal of engineering graduate S. Daswant in connection with the February 2017 sexual assault and murder of a seven-year-old girl at Mugalivakkam near Chennai. The judges declined to issue such a mandate, ruling that a third party holds no vested legal right to compel the State to litigate. However, the Bench recorded the State government's voluntary submission that it intends to file a curative petition before the apex court.

While hearing the matter, the court examined broader implementation issues regarding the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Juvenile Justice Act, taking assistance from Deepika Murali, counsel for the child rights organisation Tulir. The Bench highlighted the need for correctional measures by police, healthcare professionals, courts, and juvenile justice boards.

The judges observed that in cases involving consensual relationships between minor children, police often book cases exclusively against male children despite the POCSO Act being gender-neutral. The court noted that registering criminal cases against male minors unduly criminalises adolescent relationships. The Bench suggested that when a girl's guardians insist on an FIR, police should inform them that the male child holds the same option, and notify the boy's guardians accordingly.

The Bench further recommended that police avoid registering FIRs against minor boys for non-heinous offences and ensure copies of FIRs are provided free of cost to parents or guardians. Additional suggestions included framing a Standard Operating Procedure to restrict the sharing of a child's identity strictly on a need-to-know basis with schools and hospitals, creating clear protocols for medical examinations of male victims and medical termination of pregnancies, establishing child witness deposition rooms in every POCSO court, and increasing the overall number of POCSO courts.