[POCSO Act] “Special Court on its own can pass interim order for compensation & must initiate action at its earliest”: Delhi High Court
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Justice Jasmeet Singh noted that when an application is moved before the Special Courts for interim compensation, it takes two to three hearings for any effective order to be passed in the application.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday observed that Special Court on its own can pass an order for interim compensation and it must initiate such action at its earliest, without waiting for an application to be filed by a child victim.
Court was hearing a bunch of petitions in which a previous bench sought to streamline the process of submitting FIRs pertaining to sexual offences to the Delhi State Legal State Authority (DSLSA) to grant interim compensation to victims.
Justice Jasmeet Singh noted that when an application is moved before the Special Courts for interim compensation, it takes two to three hearings for any effective order to be passed in the application.
Court quoted Rule 9(1) of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), which reads:
“The Special Court may, in appropriate cases, on its own or on an application filed by or on behalf of the child, pass an order for interim compensation to meet the needs of the child for relief or rehabilitation at any stage after registration of the First Information Report. Such interim compensation paid to the child shall be adjusted against the final compensation if any.”
Thus, Justice Singh ordered that the Special Court must not wait for a child victim to apply for issuing an order for interim compensation, but must take action to grant interim compensation at the earliest.
Court added that the Special Court must rely on the preliminary assessment report in Form B which is to be filed within 24 hours of the registration of the FIR.
Court also noted that since there are only 5,503 pending cases, 81,902 must have been resolved. There is no information on whether or not compensation was paid in those 81,902 cases.
Furthermore, Court directed that the status reports filed in the matter to be forwarded to District Judges and asked for another status report within four weeks, with a two-week grace period.
Case Title: Manish v. State and other connected matters