Gauhati High Court asks government to set up child-friendly court

The Gauhati High Court has asked the Arunachal Pradesh government to set up at least one child-friendly court and make it functional soon.

The advice was in connection with a June 3 order by a district court asking the Child Care Institute (CCI) in Roing to hand over a minor rape victim to the sister-in-law of the accused.

Roing is the headquarters of Arunachal Pradesh’s Lower Dibang Valley district. Cases of this district are handled by the court at Tezu, the headquarters of the adjoining Lohit district.

“We request the learned Advocate-General to take up this matter with the State government so that as early as possible at least one child-friendly court can be constructed and made functional,” Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said while hearing the minor’s case on July 16.

The High Court had on June 30 taken cognizance of the case almost a month after the Tezu sessions court ordered the CCI to hand over the minor girl, brought from Nepal as domestic help, to the relative of the accused. The sessions court had identified the relative of the accused as the minor’s local guardian.

The court also found the CCI at Roing with a capacity to house 50 children to be neat, hygienic and well protected for the girl to be accommodated there.

“Since the present facilities at the CCI, Roing, are adequate and the child is well protected, it will be in the interest of justice that the child will stay there for the time being,” the court observed.

The girl was reported missing on March 2. The case took a turn when she told the Roing police that she had been subjected to sexual abuse by her employer, following which the district Child Welfare Committee put her at the CCI.

Medical examination of the girl in Roing revealed sexual abuse while her age determination test suggested she is between 12 and 15 years.

The next hearing of the case is on August 16.