Karnataka High Court Decries 12-Year Delay in POCSO Trial, Orders Completion Within Eight Weeks

The Karnataka High Court has strongly criticised the prolonged delay in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case, where the trial of a 2014 sexual assault of a six-year-old girl at a Bengaluru school remains pending after 12 years. The court directed the Bengaluru Rural Fast Track Special Court to conclude the proceedings within eight weeks.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna observed that the repeated adjournments in the case violated the legislative mandate of the POCSO Act, which requires trials to be completed preferably within one year of taking cognisance. The court noted that such delays turn the justice system into an instrument of continuing injustice for the victim.

The order came while disposing of a petition filed by the victim's father in 2024. The father had challenged the fast-track court's refusal to summon a magistrate to verify the victim's statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), arguing that the statement lacked signatures from the victim or the magistrate. The High Court, however, ruled that no provision in the POCSO Act mandates such signatures, and dismissed that ground.

The court emphasised that every unnecessary adjournment compounds the trauma for the child. “A child who has suffered the indignity of sexual abuse cannot be compelled to relive the trauma endlessly merely because the criminal justice system has surrendered to a culture of adjournments,” the court observed. It added that the object of the POCSO Act is not just to punish the offender but also to protect the child from prolonged litigation.

The High Court noted that the case had languished for over a decade, meandering from one adjournment to another, which it described as “deeply disquieting.” It stated that justice delayed in such cases assumes the character of a continuing injustice, undermining the statute's soul.