Supreme Court - Daily Orders
In Re Alarming Rise In The Number Of ... vs Giri on 8 January, 2020
Bench: Deepak Gupta, Aniruddha Bose
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ITEM NO.22 COURT NO.16 SECTION PIL-W
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Suo Moto Writ Petition (Crl.No(s). 1/2019
IN RE ALARMING RISE IN THE NUMBER
OF REPORTED CHILD RAPE INCIDENTS Petitioner(s)
Respondent(s)
(Mr. V. Giri, Sr. Advocate (A.C.), Mr. Krishna Dev Jagarlamudi, Adv
and Ms. Uttara Babbar, )
WITH
W.P.(C) No. 819/2019 (PIL-W)
(FOR INTERVENTION APPLICATION ON IA 137755/2019
IA No. 175087/2019 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.
Date : 08-01-2020 These petitions were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK GUPTA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIRUDDHA BOSE
For the appearing parties:
By Courts Motion
Mr. V. Giri,Sr.Adv.(A.C.)
Ms. Uttara Babbar,AOR
Ms. Bhavana Duhoon,Adv.
Mr. Manan Bansal,Adv.
Mr. Krishna Dev Jagarlamudi,Adv.
Mr. Surinder S. Rathi, Registrar(E-Committee)
Mr. Rakesh Kumar Singh, Judicial Officer
Signature Not Verified
Mr. Manoj V. George,Adv.
Digitally signed by
GEETA AHUJA
Date: 2020.01.11
Ms. Shilpa Liza George,Adv.
Mr. Aakarsh Kamra,AOR
10:35:25 IST
Reason:
Ms. Akriti,Adv.
Mr. Renjit V. Philip,Adv.
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Mr. Tushar Mehta,SG
UOI Mr. Atmaram N.S. Nadkarni,ASG
Mr. S.S. Rebello,Adv.
Ms. Suhasini Sen,Adv.
Ms. Neela Kedar Gokhale,Adv.
Mr. Rajat Nair,Adv.
Ms. Swati Ghildiyal,Adv.
Mr. R.R. Rajesh,Adv.
Mr. Manish,Adv.
Mr. B.V. Balaram Das,AOR
Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav,AOR
Mr. G.S. Makker,AOR
State of AP Mr. G.N. Reddy,AOR
Mr. T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy,Adv.
State of Arunachal Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari,AOR
Pradesh Ms. Eliza Bar,Adv.
State of Assam Ms. Diksha Rai,AOR
Ms. Palak Mahajan,Adv.
State of Bihar Mr. Abhinav Mukerji,AOR
Ms. Bihu Sharma,Adv.
Mr. Samarth Khanna,Adv.
High Court of Mr. P.H. Parekh,Sr.Adv.
Patna Mr. Kshtrashal Raj,Adv.
Ms. Tanya Chaudhari,Adv.
Ms. Pratyusha Priyadarshini,Adv.
Ms. Nitika Pandey,Adv.
Mr. Nikhil Ramdev,Adv.
Calcutta High Mr. Kunal Chatterji,AOR
Court Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee,Adv.
State of Dr. Rajesh Pandey,Adv.
Chhattisgarh Ms. Shweta Mulchandani,Adv.
Ms. Tanuja Manjari Patra,Adv.
Ms. Aswathi M.K.,AOR
Ms. Monali Jha,Adv.
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Mr. Sumeer Sodhi,AOR
Ms. Aarzoo Aneja,Adv.
High Court of Mr. Apoorv Kurup,AOR
Chhatisgarh Ms. Upama Bhttacharjee,Adv.
Delhi High Court Mr. Annam D.N. Rao,AOR
Mr. A. Venkatesh,Adv.
Mr. Rahul Mishra,Adv.
Mr. Avni Sharma,Adv.
Ms. Ananya Khandelwal,Adv.
Ms. Sangeetha M.R.,Adv.
State of Haryana Dr. Monika Gusain,AOR
Ms. Manpreet Kaur Bhalla,Adv.
State of HP Mr. Vikas Mahajan,Adv.(AAG)
Mr. Vinod Sharma,AOR
Mr. Aakash Varma,Adv.
State of Jharkhand Mr. Gopal Prasad,AOR
Mr. Jayesh Gaurav,Adv.
Mr. Shalya Agarwal,Adv.
Jharkhand High Mr. Himanshu Shekhar,AOR
Court Mr. Jamnesh Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Parth Shekhar,Adv.
State of Goa Mr. Arun R. Pedneker,Adv.
Mr. Hitesh Kr. Sharma,Adv.
Ms. Mukti Chowdhary,AOR
State of Guj. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka,AOR
Ms. D. Bharathi Reddy,AOR
High Court of Guj. Mr. Nikhil Goel,AOR
Ms. Naveen Goel,Adv.
Mr. Dushyant Sarna,Adv.
State of Raj. Dr. Manish Singhvi,Sr.Adv.
Mr. Shailja Nanda Mishra,Adv.
Mr. Arpit Parkash,Adv.
Mr. D.K.Devesh,AOR
State of Kar. Mr. V.N. Raghupathy,AOR
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Mr. Manendra Pal Gupta,Adv.
State of Kerala Mr. G. Prakash,AOR
Mr. Jishnu M.L.,Adv.
Ms. Priyanka Prakash,Adv.
Ms. Beena Prakash,Adv.
High Court of Mr. P.N. Ravindran,Sr.Adv.
Kerala Mr. T.G. Narayanan Nair,AOR
High Court of MP Mr. Arjun Garg,AOR
Mr. Devansh Srivastav,Adv.
State of Mah. Mr. Sachin Patil,AOR
Mr. Rahul Chitnis,Adv.
Mr. Aditya Pande,Adv.
High Court of Mr. Aniruddha P. Mayee,AOR
Bombay Mr. A. Rajarajan,Adv.
State of MP Mr. Rahul Kaushik,AOR
State of Mizoram Ms. Astha Sharma,AOR
Mr. Siddhesh Kotwal,Adv.
Ms. Arshiya Ghose,Adv.
Mr. Divyansh Tiwari,Adv.
Ms. A. Upadhyay,Adv.
State of Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee,AOR
Meghalaya Mr. K.R. Kharlyngdoh,Adv.
Mr. Deniel Stone Lyngdoh,Adv.
High Court of Mr. Sanjai Kumar Pathak,AOR
Meghalaya Ms. Shashi Pathak,Adv.
Mr. Arvind Kumar Tripathi,Adv.
State of Nagaland Ms. K. Enatoli Sema,AOR
Mr. Amit Kumar Singh,Adv.
State of Odisha Mr. Som Raj Choudhury,AOR
Mr. Prashant Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra,AOR
Mr. Ankit Agarwal,Adv.
High Court of Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra,AOR
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Orissa Mr. Niranjan Sahu,Adv.
State of Pb. Ms. Jaspreet Gogia,AOR
Ms. Mandakini Singh,Adv.
Ms. Ashima Mandla,Adv.
High Court of Raj. Mr. Purushaindra Kaurav,Sr.Adv.
Mr. K. Parameshwar,AOR
.
Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha,AOR
State of Sikkim Ms. Aruna Mathur,Adv.
Mr. Avneesh Arputham,Adv.
Ms. Anuradha Arputham,ADv.
Ms. Geetanjali,Adv.
Mr. Vivek Kohli,Adv.
Ms. Yeshirinchhen,Adv.
for M/s. Arputham Aruna & Co.,AOR
State of TN Mr. Jayanth Muth Raj,Sr.Adv.
Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna,AOR
Mr. Karthik R.,Adv.
State of Tripura Mr. Shuvodeep Roy,AOR
Mr. Kabir Shankar Bose,Adv.
Mr. Sataroop Das,Adv.
State of UP
Mr. Sarvesh Singh Baghel,Adv.
Ms. Garima Prashad,AOR
Mr. Srinivas Vishven,Adv.
High Court of Mr. Sunny Choudhary,AOR
Allahabad
State of Mr. Vinay Arora,Adv.(DAG)
Uttarakhand Mr. Vikas Negi,Adv.
Mr. Jatinder Kumar Bhatia,AOR
Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma,Adv.
State of WB Mr. Suhaan Mukerji,Adv.
Mr. Vishal Prasad,Adv.
Mr. Amit Verma,Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Manchanda,Adv.
Ms. Kajal Dalal,Adv.
Ms. Astha Sharma,Adv.
Mr. Amit Verma,Adv.
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Mr. Pastut Dalvi,Adv.
for M/s. PLR Chambers & Co.,AOR
UT of Chandigarh Mr. Ankit Goel,AOR
Mr. R.K.Gupta,Adv.
Govt. of Mr. V.G. Pragasam,AOR
Puducherry Mr. S. Prabhu Ramasubramanian,Adv.
Mr. S.Manuraj,Adv.
UT of J&K Mr. K.V.Jagdishwaran,Adv.
Ms. G.Indira,AOR
Mr. M. Shoeb Alam,AOR
Mr. Mojahid Karim Khan,Adv.
High Court of J&K Mr. Sahil Tagotra,Adv.
Andaman & Nicobar Ms. G. Indira,AOR
Admn.
Mr. Amit Kumar, AG.
Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi,Adv.
Mr. K.V.KharLyngdoh,Adv.
Mr. T.K. Nayak,Adv.
Mr. P.S. Negi,Adv.
Ms. Shruti Ram Kochar,Adv.
Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar,AOR
Ms. Swati Bhardwaj,Adv.
Mr. Subhasish Mohanty,AOR
Mr. Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar,AOR
Mr. Ashok Mathur,AOR
Mr. Gopal Singh,AOR
Mr. R.P. Gupta,AOR
Ms. Sneha Kalita,AOR
Mr. Prem Sunder Jha,AOR
Mr. Leishangthem Roshmani Kh.,AOR
Mr. Milind Kumar,AOR
Mr. R. Nedumaran,AOR
Ms. Radhika Gautam,AOR
Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki,AOR
Mr. Vinay Arora,AOR
Mr. Naresh K. Sharma,AOR
Mr. P.I. Jose,AOR
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Intervenor Mr. Piyush Dwivedi,AOR
Mr. Manoj Dwivedi,Adv.
Mr. Ramesh Kumar Tiwari,Adv.
In-person
Impleading party Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Jain,Adv.
Mr. S.K. Rajora,Adv.
Mr. Akhileshwar Jha,Adv.
Mr. Sandhya Sharma,Adv.
Mr. Anikanissar Sayyed,AOR
Mr. Raghvendra Kumar,Adv.
Mr. Anand Kr. Dubey,Adv.
Mr. Narendra Kumar,AOR
Mr. B. V. Balaram Das, AOR
Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR
Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR
Ms. Aswathi M.K., AOR
Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR
Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR
Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR
Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, AOR
Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR
Mr. Narendra Kumar, AOR
Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR
Ms. Garima Prashad, AOR
Mr. Jatinder Kumar Bhatia, AOR
M/S. Plr Chambers And Co., AOR
Ms. G. Indira, AOR
Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR
Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR
Ms. Jaspreet Gogia, AOR
Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR
Mr. Apoorv Kurup, AOR
Mr. Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar, AOR
Mr. V. G. Pragasam, AOR
Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, AOR
Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR
Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR
Mr. R. P. Gupta, AOR
Ms. Sneha Kalita, AOR
Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra, AOR
Mr. Som Raj Choudhury, AOR
Intervenor-in-person, AOR
Dr. Monika Gusain, AOR
Mr. Ankit Goel, AOR
Mr. Arjun Garg, AOR
Mr. Rahul Kaushik, AOR
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Mr. Prem Sunder Jha, AOR
Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR
Mr. Piyush Dwivedi, AOR
Mr. K.parameshwar, AOR
M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR
Mr. G. N. Reddy, AOR
Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR
Mr. P. I. Jose, AOR
Mr. Sanjai Kumar Pathak, AOR
Mr. Aniruddha P. Mayee, AOR
Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR
Mr. Subhasish Mohanty, AOR
Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR
M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR
Mr. Nikhil Goel, AOR
Mr. R. Nedumaran, AOR
Ms. Radhika Gautam, AOR
Ms. Uttara Babbar, AOR
Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR
Mr. S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR
Ms. Mukti Chowdhary, AOR
Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR
Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR
Vinay Arora, AOR
Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR
Mr. Annam D. N. Rao, AOR
Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, AOR
Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, AOR
Mr. G. Prakash, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
Today the matters were listed for taking up the issue with regard to the State of Assam and Union Territory-Jammu and Kashmir. State of Assam has filed an affidavit indicating that ten POCSO Courts have already been set up and three will be set up in near future. Five existing Additional Sessions Judge Courts have been earmarked as POCSO Courts and ten new Courts to 9 deal with POCSO cases will be set up. The action appears to be in terms of our earlier orders. We would like to direct that State of Assam and Registrar General of J&K High Court to file affidavits clearly stating that POCSO Courts shall deal exclusively with POCSO matters and not deal with any other matters These affidavits to be filed by 28th February, 2020.
List on 6.3.2020.
Jammu and Kashmir On the last date i.e. 16.12.2019 in respect of the Union territory J&K we had passed the following order:
"Keeping in view the peculiar situation of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, we direct that fresh affidavit be filed by the State as well as the Registrar General of the High Court on or before 6.1.2020.
List on 8.1.2020."
No affidavit has been filed either by the Union Territory of J&K or by the High Court. Learned counsel for the Union Territory of J&K refers to the affidavit filed on 15th December, 2019 which clearly shows that there are no exclusive courts set up in the J&K to deal with POCSO matters. We had passed order dated 16.12.2019 which clearly laid down the criteria that in any District which has more than 100 POCSO cases, there will be atleast one exclusive POCSO Court and in any District where there are more than 300 POCSO cases, there should be atleast two POCSO Courts. We direct the Chief Secretary of the Union Terriytory of J&K to sit with the Registrar General of the High Court of J&K on or before 24th 10 January, 2020. They shall prepare a chart of POCSO cases in each District.If there are more than 100 cases in any District then in pursuance of our directions dated 16.12.2019 one exclusive POCSO Court shall be set up and made functional before 1st March 2020. We make it clear that in case there is no District having more than 100 cases then there is no need to set up exclusive POCSO Court. List on 6.3.2020.
Letters sent by daughter of Mr. Kuldeep Singh Sengar The complaint letter had been filed by the daughter of Mr. Kuldeep Singh Sengar. Keeping in view the fact that trial is completed and Mr. Kuldeep Singh has been convicted there is no need to pursue this matter.
EXCLUSIVE PUBLIC PROSECUTERS FOR POCSO (The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) COURTS In our earlier orders we had emphasised the need to have exclusive Special Public Prosecutors for POCSO cases. Section 32 of the POCSO Act clearly lays down that there shall be Special Public Prosecutors for the POCSO cases. Sub-Section 1 of Section 32 reads as follows:
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"Every State must by Notification appoint a Special Public Prosecutor for every Special Court for conducting cases only under the provisions of the Act."
(Emphasis supplied) The language of the Act leaves no manner of doubt that the Special Public Prosecutor under the Act should not deal with other cases.
There is a salutary reason for appointing Public Prosecutors exclusively for POCSO cases. Public Prosecutors must be trained to deal with child victims and child witnesses. They need to understand the psychology of children. They need to empathize with children. They need to know how to bring out the truth from children who are victims of sexual abuse and have to undergo the trauma again while recounting the traumatic experience.
The job assigned to the Public Prosecutor for POCSO cases is a very onerous one which must be carried out with great care and sensitivity. Therefore not only is there a need to have exclusive Public Prosecutors but there is also a need to develop a training programme where these Special Public Prosecutors should be trained to deal with issues which will arise in their Courts. These issues may not be confined to legal issues which otherwise Public Prosecutors may be trained to deal with. The issues may be 12 psychological, health and other related issues.
Keeping in view these factors, we direct all the States who are present before us to take steps to appoint exclusive Public Prosecutors in all the Courts which have been set up exclusively for POCSO cases. We request the Chief Justices of all High Court to ensure that in the Judicial Academy of the State special programmes are developed so that these Special Public Prosecutors attached to POCSO Courts are imparted training not only in law but also in child psychology, child behaviour, health issues etc. We also request the Director of the National Judicial Academy to ensure that a training programme is developed in the National Judicial Academy to train master trainers who can then work in the Judicial Academies in each State. We realize that the National Judicial Academy cannot train all the Special Public Prosecutors in the country but they can prepare a team of master trainers who can travel from State to State to impart training to the persons appointed as Special Public Prosecutors.
A copy of this order may be sent to the Registrar General of each High Court to be placed before the Chief Justice of the High Court. A copy be also sent to the Director of National Judicial Academy. We request the Director of National Judicial Academy and the Registrar Generals of the High Courts to file responses to our suggestions on or before 28th February, 2020.
List on 6.3.2020.
13Forensic Science Laboratories The issue of FSL shall also be taken on 6th March, 2020 but we direct all the States to file affidavits till 28th February, 2020 giving the latest status with regard to development of infrastructure of Forensic Science Laboratories to deal with the matters relating to POCSO cases.
Human Rights Courts Matters relating to establishment of Human Rights Courts, to be listed on Monday i.e. 13.1.2020.
State of Madhya Pradesh Mr. Rahul Kaushik, learned counsel states that he had filed two applications on behalf of the State of Madhya Pradesh. List those applications on Monday i.e. 13.1.2020.
(SUMAN WADHWA) (PRADEEP KUMAR)
AR CUM PS BRANCH OFFICER
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