The Supreme Court has received responses from both the Union government and the state government regarding threat perception in Uttar Pradesh.
The Division Bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Vikram Nath held the hearing as part of the writ of ‘perpetual mandamus’ issued in 2019 after the Apex Court decided to take suo motu cognisance of various reports regarding rise in cases of sexual assault on children.
Additional Advocate-General Garima Prashad represented the government of Uttar Pradesh in the writ petition titled ‘In Re Alarming Rise in the Number of Reported Child Rape Incidents’
Referring to the transfer of responsibility affected in line with a 2019 Apex Court order directing the Centre to provide security cover to the families of Unnao rape survivor and her lawyer, the AAG apprised the Court that the entire security aspect in this matter had been handed over to the Central Reserve Police Force.
However, the Additional Solicitor-General, speaking on behalf of the Central government, clarified that the need to ‘continue security’ had not persisted and that there was no threat perception anymore.
The top court of the country, in 2019, had taken cognisance of the increasing number of cases of sexual assault on children, with the intention of passing directions to ensure a concerted and coordinated national response against such crimes and prevent any delays in disposing of such matters.
The Bench of then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Aniruddha Bose noted that despite the enactment of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2012, which established special procedures and courts for the speedy disposal of cases under the Act, an overwhelming number of these cases were stuck in the trial stage.
The top court of the country, since taking cognisance of the matter, has issued a slew of directions and guidelines for prompter delivery of justice to children, who had been subjected to sexual violence.
It also expanded the scope considerably to include aspects such as compensation to victims under the POCSO Act, and protection of survivors and witnesses of child sexual assault. Senior Advocate V. Giri was appointed as Amicus Curiae by the apex court and requested to tender assistance in the framing of guidelines.