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The Supreme Court on Tuesday accepted the suggestions made by Amicus Curiae Gaurav Agrawal and Senior Advocate Anitha Shenoy relating to the Standard operating procedure for permissibility of recording evidence of children through video conferencing and directed the same to be put in practice as a regular feature.

A bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice BR Gavai said, "We direct the RPCs to ensure that child-friendly practices are adopted during the examination of the witnesses."

A petition had been filed in the suo moto cognizance taken by the apex court for the children in the street situation seeking direction to use video conferencing the recording of evidence of child victims/witnesses of human trafficking across Districts/States/Countries.

In this regards a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) draft was prepare by the Amicus in consultation with Shenoy which was then modified after consultation with various High Courts for recording evidence of children through video conferencing.

The court further directed that "the procedure need not be restricted only to the period affected by the COVID-19 pandemic."

The  court said that "Covid-19 had a devastating effect on children from the lower strata of society who have been suffering due to the loss of employment of their parents & closure of schools which has forced them into labour for survival."

"We have highlighted the problem for the purpose of reiterating the importance of protection of children and rescuing and rehabilitating them," the bench added.

Further, Justice Rao noted that "We have carefully examined the draft SOP which contains minute details about steps to be taken for recording the testimony of child witnesses at Remote Points. Responses have been filed by the High Courts."

"Whereas, there is no objection taken by any High Court to the SOP being put in practice immediately", the bench recorded.

In furtherance to this the bench also accepted the suggestion of Amicus Curiae that the Remote Point Coordinators shall be paid Rs.1500/- per day as honorarium to pay the expenses of the witnesses attending any inquiry, trial or other proceedings, which would be bourn by NALSA.

Furthermore, the bench appreciated the stand taken by NALSA to strengthen the video conferencing facilities in DLSA offices in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam, to begin with to ensure that in case video conferencing facility in the court complex is not available, video conferencing facility in DLSA office can be utilized for recording of the evidence of the child witness.

Case Title: IN RE Children in Street Situation