MARGAO
Independent Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco has urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to issue instructions to the authorities, including the Directorate of Women and Child Development, to cater to issues of children, especially crimes taking place against them.
In his letter, Reginaldo requested the Chief Minister to assign priority to addressing the issue of the fast track POCSO court.
“People associated with matters of children have approached me to appeal to our State Government for making children’s court including the fast track court, which was established for POCSO (Protection of children from sexual offences) child friendly. It is given to understand that the children’s court housed in Shram Shakti Bhavan at Patto in Panaji is not following the checklist of the child-friendly guidelines as mentioned in Standard Operating Procedures of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights including the specification for use of professionals and experts in assisting the child at pretrial and trial stages”, he said.
The MLA said it is important that the fast track POCSO court set up in the sessions court must be made totally child friendly. “The courtroom in the sessions court must be an informal one adorning with paintings on its wall and toys kept on its shelf”, he said.
He added: “It has also come to light when a child complaints about sexual abuse in the morning around 8 am or 10 am, her/his complaint is not referred to the NGO fighting such causes till late afternoon of that day. It is imperative that quick action is taken the moment a sexually abused child approaches a POCSO court”.
He demanded that since a children’s court exists only in North Goa district, there is a dire need to establish a children’s court in South Goa too along with opening up an office for Child Welfare Committee in the said district. Similarly, the State of Goa also requires child-friendly police stations.
