Taking note of the fact that there is no child friendly court in Arunachal Pradesh to take up the cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Gauhati High Court has asked the advocate general of the state to take up the issue with the government so that one child-friendly court can be constructed and made functional at the earliest.
A division bench of Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak passed the order on Friday after hearing a suo motu case concerning the plight of an alleged minor rape victim, who is currently at Child Care Institute (CCI) in Roing in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lower Dibang Valley district.
The development came in connection with a June 3 order by a lower court in Arunachal Pradesh asking the CCI in Roing to hand over the minor girl to the sister-in-law if the accused.
The girl, originally hails from Nepal, was working as a domestic help at the house of one Aka Kalung in Roing for last few years. She was reported missing on March 2.
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The case took a turn when the girl told the police that she had been subjected to sexual abuse by Kalung, following which the district Child Welfare Committee put her at the CCI.
Satisfied with the enquiry report regarding the facilities available at the CCI submitted by the deputy commissioner of Lower Dibang Valley district, the high court said that the child will stay at the CCI for the time being.
In its previous hearing on July 1, the Gauhati High Court stayed the lower court’s order to hand over the girl to the kin of the accused and directed that the child be kept in the custody of the CCI in Roing.
The Lower Dibang Valley SP was directed by the high court to provide police protection to the victim at the Roing CCI and restrain the visiting rights of the accused, his relatives and the girl’s father.