In November last year, the Ernakulam Additional District and Sessions Court for the trial of cases related to atrocities and sexual violence against women and children sentenced a man to 50 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for sexually abusing a six-year-old boy.
While the sentence was perhaps fitting for the man, in his 40s, convicted for abusing the boy multiple times while working as a driver-cum-worker of a school bus, the fact that it came five years after the case was registered raises serious concern. Even more traumatising for the victim’s family was that the accused roamed free till the conviction.
Though the statute calls for the completion of the trial of cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act within a year, it does not always happen. As per a report placed before the State Assembly, as many as 10,500 POCSO cases were pending trial across the State as on October last year.
