Speedy trial of sexual abuse cases of minors

PUNE: The trial in sexual crime cases involving minors pending before the special courts in Maharashtra might pick up speed with the state government finally appointing special public prosecutors under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (PCSOA), 2012. However, these are not fresh appointments as the state has simply re-designated public prosecutors as special prosecutors to represent minors who are victims of sexual crimes.
The PCSOA came into effect in November, 2012 and includes all forms of abuse, mental, physical or even inappropriate touching of the child, making them a punishable offense. Compared to existing laws, the quantum of punishment under this law is more severe. The new law aims at completion of trial of cases involving minors within a year of the chargesheet being filed.
The act makes it mandatory for each state government to appoint special public prosecutors for these cases as it bars additional public prosecutors from representing the minor victims in sexual crimes. The office of the district government pleaders and public prosecutors had advised the state law and judiciary department in Mumbai to make fresh appointments of special public prosecutors to meet the objectives of the act and also enable special courts to commence trials in these cases as soon as possible.
However, in a notification issued on March 2, the department's section officer Dr Ganesh Bade designated all the public prosecutors and additional public prosecutors in the state appointed under section 24 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code as the special public prosecutors for handling such cases in the special courts. The district and sessions court here has received copy of the notification on April 2.
Reacting to the government notification, district government pleader and public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar, head of additional prosecutors in Pune district, said that the cases filed under PCSOA will be equally distributed among all the prosecutors.
The state police have started invoking the provisions of the PCSOA in cases of sexual abuse and sexual assault of minors and have even filed the chargesheet against the offenders within a month, as mandated by the act. But, trial in these cases could not progress due to the delay in appointing special public prosecutors.
The court of special judge Vinay G Joshi here has decided the remand pleas of 30 offenders arrested in Pune district after the new law came into effect.
Among the cases pending before the court as a special public prosecutor had not yet been appointed, is that of security guard Kabir Adik Sakat (21) of Handewadi Road and a native of Karad taluka in Satara who was arrested for attempting to rape a minor girl and was charged under sections 376 (rape) read with 511 (attempt) of the Indian Penal Code and section 8 (punishment for sexual assault) of the PCSOA on February 28, 2013. The police have filed a total of four chargesheets in cases booked under provisions of PCSOA.
TOI was the first to publish a report "special public prosecutor awaited for sexual offence trial to begin" in its March 5 edition. Additional chief secretary (home) Amitabh Rajan had then told TOI during his visit to Pune that the government will take up the matter on priority to meet the requirements of the new act.