Supreme Court Judge Justice Deepak Gupta on Saturday said children-friendly courts will become a reality for victims of child sexual abuse only when the judges, police, public prosecutors and the defense counsel adopt a softer approach towards them.
Speaking after releasing three training manuals developed by various institutions in collaboration with Karnataka Judicial Academy, the judge noted the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, was “not rosy, but much less depressive.”
He said a change in approach was necessary in cases of juveniles in conflict with the law. “Judges should not look at children in such cases as accused, but as children. The prejudices and presumptions during trials may affect the future of the children. Instead, by empathising with such children, judges should try to uncover what led to doing that. Such children should be given able legal assistance. But, legal aid to the poor has turned out to be poor legal aid,” he quipped.
He said that a monthly visit to child care homes by judges will resolve many issues. Justice Gupta said, as a chief justice of the High Court of Tripura, he visited a child care home to find six innocent Bangladeshi children who had crossed the borders unintentionally. With the help of Border Security Force and Border Guards (of Bangladesh), children were handed over to their parents in Bangladesh, he added.
Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Abhay Oka said that vacancies in the prosecution department were hampering the justice delivery system. He said that after the release of these manuals, there will be follow-up workshops for the stakeholders.