Last Updated on January 7, 2024 by News Desk
The Kerala High Court has ordered the formulation of schemes to provide psychiatric treatment for individuals accused of child sexual abuse under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act).
The scheme should be framed by the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KELSA) in consultation with the State Department of Health Services and the State Department of Social Justice, with the help and guidance of experts. The aim is to:
provide treatment, including intense psychotherapy, pharmacological intervention, and psychiatric treatment if necessary, to inmates in prisons and correctional homes accused of having committed offences under the POCSO Act.
Justice Gopinath P added that the Kerala government should implement this initiative in collaboration with the Director General of Police (Prisons) in all prisons and correctional homes in Kerala to reduce recidivism for such gruesome offences. The court also called for prioritising therapy for victims or survivors of sexual assault.
The Secretary, Department of Social Justice, Government of Kerala, shall formulate a scheme in consultation with the Department of Health Services, Government of Kerala, and the Kerala State Legal Services Authority for extending scientifically based sex therapy to survivors and victims of sexual assault to help them lead a normal life on rehabilitation and enable them to have reintegration into the main stream of society.
The court passed the order while considering the bail plea by a 19-year-old boy who was accused of sexually abusing his 13-year-old sister. The accused person maintained that he was innocent, while the prosecution asserted that the police had concluded that the allegations were true.
The court accepted broad suggestions from the Project Coordinator of the Victim Rights Centre on the larger issue of carrying out therapeutic interventions for both victims and persons accused of sexual abuse.
Case Title: xx xx xx xx v. State of Kerala
By Srijan Raj, @procrastinate_human
