Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam Tuesday chaired a meeting to review the status of investigations of cases of sexual offence / rape against women and children under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Principal Secretary, Home Department, Additional Director General of Police, Security, Jammu, Commissioner/Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Secretary, Department of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs, IGP, Crime J&K, Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, J&K and other officers attended the meeting.
The status of investigations, production of challans before the Courts and trials related to offences under POCSO Act was reviewed comprehensively.
Home Department was asked to ensure that the cases registered under the POCSO Act are properly investigated and challans produced before the specially designated courts within the stipulated time frame.
Chief Secretary directed IGP Crime to organise Training Cum Sensitization programme in the month of January, 2020 for all the Station House Officers (SHOs) of the police stations across Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir regarding prevention & collection of evidence and completion of investigation in these cases within 2 months. IGP Crime was asked to furnish a fortnightly report regarding the status of investigations to the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary Home Department and also ensure implementation of Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) in J&K.
Chief Secretary asked the Social Welfare Department to prepare a short clip of 2 minutes in collaboration with theatre artists group like ‘Mahila Balika’ to spread awareness regarding the prevention of child abuse and prosecution of crimes against children and ensure its screening in Schools / Colleges / Aganwadi centres / Panchayats as well as TV channels in the coming months.
Director, Forensic Science Laboratory was asked to organize a training programme for the staff of the Forensic Science Laboratories about the POCSO Act, so as to make them aware about their obligations under the Act, efficient collection and prompt analysis of the samples and timely reporting.
Chief Secretary observed that Supreme Court of India has passed orders in the suo motto Writ Petition titled ‘Re: Alarming Rise in the reported Child Rape incidents’ asking States/ Union Territories to file compliance reports before it. He said Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs will file a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court in compliance to the order dated 16.12.2019 of the Court. He advised line departments to take appropriate steps to comply with the directions of the Supreme Court.