Fact-finding on sexual assault in fake NCC camp in Krishnagiri school calls for invoking POSH Act too

A fact-finding report by the rights organisation Manitham on the sexual assault of a girl student in a fake NCC camp in a school was released by U. Vasuki, Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) here on Friday.

The report has flagged both institutional gaps in complying with statutory mandates and State’s failures that have come to compound crimes covered under the POCSO Act.

Releasing the report, Ms. Vasuki, who is also the National Vice-President, All India Democratic Women’s Association questioned the non-invocation of the statutory provisions under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal), Act, 2013. “Kolkata High Court has observed that schools, too, must have POSH committees and even if students do not work in schools those are co-spaces that are mandated to have Internal Complaints committees as required by the POSH Act,” Ms. Vasuki said. While the police have only applied POCSO Act in this case, POSH Act also can be been applied and the school should be fined ₹50,000 for not constituting an Internal Complaint Committee, she added.

The report flags larger failures of the State starting from not setting up of POCSO courts in all districts. As of 2022, there were over 11,000 pending POCSO cases in the State and POCSO courts have been set up only in 16 districts. The rules mandate a POCSO court in each district and where the average number of POCSO cases exceed 300, two POCSO courts must be set up.

However, a large number of districts do not have even a single POCSO court to deal with the case overload, she said.

The report, alluding to the award ceremony of the fake NCC camp witnessing a police officer presiding over, has also as part of its recommendations called upon people in positions of power to examine who they share the stage with inorder not to lend credence to specious events such as this.

The report has called for a time-bound completion of inquiry as mandated by the POCSO Act, imposition of fine on the school, sensitisation camps in schools; and also makes a special case for support to the parents of the violated children to ensure they are not pulled out of education.

She said the POCSO Act should be extensively applied in this case, because in all likelihood it was a case of aggravated sexual assault. That was the special focus of the POCSO Act that highlighted custodial violence by those in power, where children are in the custody of those in-charge of their well-being.

Finally, the fact-finding report also calls for a white paper on the incidents of crime in schools and hold a discussion in the Assembly to instil confidence in parents. This should be attempted by the government and the School Education Department, Ms. Vasuki said.

Ms. Vasuki citing the report, called for a CB-CID inquiry and also implored upon the political class to stop using language that condones such crimes in order to create a zero-tolerant atmosphere that goes beyond law and punishment.

Published - September 20, 2024 08:45 pm IST