Support persons to victims under POCSO Act can't be optional: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said providing a support person to a victim of crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act cannot be made optional or left to the discretion of parents.

The top court told the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to formulate model guidelines in consultation with States and Union Territories in respect of support persons.

"This court is of the opinion that the need for support person should not be left to the discretion of the parents; in all cases, the option of availability of support person and right to claim the assistance of such support person should be made known to the victims parents," a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar said.

The bench pointed out the State has an obligation to provide support persons to POCSO victims which cannot be made optional. 

"Unless there are good reasons recorded by the Child Welfare Committee in its order, the familiarity of support persons is mandatory," the bench said.

The court stressed that its previous judgement of August 18, 2023 is "forthright and categorical on this aspect".

Taking up the a bunch of writ petitions filed by the 'We The Women of India' and others, the court had on August 18, 2023, asked the state governments to ensure strict implementation of POCSO Rules 2020, which offered an effective framework in providing support system to the child victims, including the appointment of support persons, to reduce the ordeal for them during the investigation, trial and rehabilitation.

Following an affidavit filed by the Union government's Ministry of Women and Child Development and the NCPCR, the bench on October 9 directed the NCPCR to formulate model guidelines, after consulting all the state governments and the Union Territories, which may frame their rules in respect of support persons under Section 39 of the POCSO Act. 

The court said the model guidelines to be prepared by the NCPCR should include a uniform standard of education of support persons with experience in child psychology, social work or child welfare, etc and making them permanent, and creation of an all India portal, accessible to all individuals and organisations with list of all support persons available in the concerned States and Union Territories.