IN RE : ALARMING RISE IN THE NUMBER OF REPORTED CHILD RAPE INCIDENTS versus

                 [2025] 5 S.C.R. 1047 : 2025 INSC 695

           In Re : Alarming Rise in the Number of Reported
                         Child Rape Incidents
              (Suo Moto Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 1 of 2019)
                                 15 May 2025
            [Bela M. Trivedi* and Prasanna B. Varale, JJ.]


                            Issue for Consideration
       Matter pertains to suo moto cognizance taken by this Court in child
       rape cases; and directions to Union and States Government to set
       up Special POCSO Courts on top priority, and timeline compliances.

                                   Headnotes†
       Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, 2012 –
       Child rape cases – Alarming increase in number of reported
       child rape incidents in view of various news reports – Suo-
       moto cognizance by this Court – Issuance of directions for
       setting up of special courts exclusively designated for trying
       offences under the POCSO – Subsequently, directions issued
       from time to time calling upon the States and the High Courts
       to furnish information – Submissions of report showing status
       of POCSO cases pending in courts:
       Held: Majority of the States with the funding from Central government
       have complied with the directions issued by the Court for setting up
       exclusive courts for POCSO cases, however in certain states-Tamil
       Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Maharashtra,
       there is still need to create more POCSO courts considering the
       pendency of POCSO cases – Timelines stipulated under POCSO
       Act for all stages must be adhered to as far as possible – Because
       of inadequacy of exclusive courts for POCSO cases, timelines
       mandated in the Act are not being maintained – Union of India
       and State Governments to take appropriate steps to sensitize the
       officials associated with investigation of POCSO cases, and also to
       create dedicated courts to try POCSO cases on top priority basis,
       and to see to it that chargesheets are filed within the mandatory
       period stipulated in the Act, and trials are completed within the
       time frame as contemplated in the Act. [Paras 5, 6]



* Author
1048                                                         [2025] 5 S.C.R.

                         Supreme Court Reports


                               List of Acts
    Constitution of India; Protection of Children against Sexual Offences
    Act, 2012.

                            List of Keywords
    Suo-moto cognizance; Child rape incidents; Reported child rape
    incidents; Special courts for offences under POCSO Act; Directions
    issued by this Court; Status of POCSO cases pending in POCSO
    courts; Timelines stipulated under POCSO Act; Inadequacy of
    exclusive courts for POCSO cases; Sensitisation of officials
    associated with investigation of POCSO cases.

                           Case Arising From
    CRIMINAL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Suo Motu Writ Petition
    (Criminal) No. 1 of 2019
    (Under Article 32 of The Constitution of India)
    With
    C.A. No. 7968 of 2019

                        Appearances for Parties
    By Courts Motion.
    Advs. for the Petitioners:
    Aakarsh Kamra, Shikhar Goel, Pranav Sachdeva, Abhaid Parikh.
    Advs. for the Respondents:
    Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G., Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G., V. Giri, Ms.
    Uttara Babbar, P.N. Ravindran, Ms. Uttara Babbar, Sr. Advs., Krishna
    Dev Jagarlamudi, Ms. Disha Singh, Ms. Eliza Bar, Ms. Diksha Rai,
    Ms. Purvat Wali, Manish Kumar, Kumar Saurav, M/s. Plr Chambers
    And Co., Ms. Ankita Sharma, Arjun D Singh, Surjendu Sankar Das,
    Ms. Aarushi Singh, Anil Shrivastav, Karan Kapur, Abhishek Gautam,
    Ms. Aswathi M.K., Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, Rajiv Shanker Dvivedi,
    Vishal Prasad, V. N. Raghupathy, Raghavendra M. Kulkarni, Ms.
    Deepanwita Priyanka, Prashant Bhagwati, Sanjay Kumar Visen,
    Vinod Sharma, Varad Kilor, Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, Pukhrambam
    Ramesh Kumar, Karun Sharma, Avijit Mani Tripathi, T.K. Nayak, Ms.
    Astha Sharma, Sunny Choudhary, Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, Suvendu
    Suvasis Dash, Ms. Nupur Kumar, Milind Kumar, Anando Mukherjee,
    Narendra Kumar, Sabarish Subramanian, Shibashish Misra, Ms.
    Ruchira Goel, Akshat Kumar, Ajay Kumar Bahuguna, M. Yogesh
[2025] 5 S.C.R.                                                          1049

 In Re : Alarming Rise in the Number of Reported Child Rape Incidents


     Kanna, Kunal Mimani, Prashant, Sravan Kumar Karanam, Rajiv
     Kumar Choudhry, Ms. G. Indira, Raj Bahadur Yadav, Vinay Arora,
     Shubhranshu Padhi, Kunal Chatterji, Maitrayee Banerjee, Guntur
     Prabhakar, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Gopal Prasad, Ranjan Mukherjee,
     Ms. Jaspreet Gogia, K. V. Vijayakumar, Gopal Singh, M/s. Parekh
     & Co., Ms. G. Indira, Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, Akshai Malik,
     Nikhil Jain, Guntur Pramod Kumar, Abhimanyu Tewari, Ms. Radhika
     Gautam, Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, Rajat Nair, Arvind Kumar Sharma,
     Sameer Abhyankar, Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, M. Yogesh Kanna, Renjith
     B. Marar, Ms. Lakshmi N. Kaimal, Varad Kilor, Aaditya Aniruddha
     Pande, Samir Ali Khan, Piyush Dwivedi, Shuvodeep Roy, Ms. Mukti
     Chowdhary, Avijit Mani Tripathi, Ms. Ruchira Goel, S. Gowthaman,
     Sumeer Sodhi, Naresh K. Sharma, Sahil Tagotra, Ms. Diksha Rai, Ms.
     Jaspreet Gogia, Narendra Kumar, Atul Kumar, Nishe Rajen Shonker,
     Mukesh Kumar Maroria, R. P. Gupta, Vinod Sharma, G. N. Reddy,
     Prashant Shrikant Kenjale, Ms. Nupur Kumar, V. N. Raghupathy,
     Sandeep Kumar Jha, Kanhaiya Singhal, Prasanna, Ms. Sindoora
     Vnl, Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, Prem Sunder Jha, Ankit Goel, S.
     Udaya Kumar Sagar, Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, Kumar Mihir, Kunal
     Mimani, Milind Kumar, Sanjai Kumar Pathak, Aravindh S., Anando
     Mukherjee, Ms. Devina Sehgal, Subhasish Mohanty, M/s. Arputham
     Aruna And Co, Gopal Singh, Dilip Annasaheb Taur, Ramesh Babu
     M. R., Ms. Asmita Singh, Ashok Mathur, T. G. Narayanan Nair,
     Chirag M. Shroff, Manish Kumar, Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya,
     Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar, Raj Bahadur Yadav, Kunal
     Chatterji, Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Rajiv Kumar Choudhry, Krishna
     Dev Jagarlamudi, Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, M/s. Plr Chambers And Co.,
     Pashupathi Nath Razdan, Niranjan Sahu, Akshay Amritanshu, Som
     Raj Choudhury, Himanshu Shekhar, Nirnimesh Dube, Ms. Enakshi
     Mukhopadhyay Siddhanta, Deepayan Mandal, Naman Verma, Arjun
     Garg, P. I. Jose, Ms. Rashi Bansal, Shreekant Neelappa Terdal,
     M/s. Chambers Of Kartik Seth, Kartik Seth, Ms. Brinda Bhattipvolu.
     Intervenor-in-person.

                Judgment / Order of the Supreme Court

                                Judgment

     Bela M. Trivedi, J.

1.   This Court vide the order dated 12.07.2019 had directed the Registry
     to register a Suo Moto Writ Petition under the caption “In Re Alarming
1050                                                      [2025] 5 S.C.R.

                       Supreme Court Reports


    rise in the number of reported child rape incidents,” and requested the
    Learned Senior Counsel Mr. V. Giri to assist the Court in formulating
    the directions that may be required to be issued. The said cognizance
    was taken by the Court in view of the various news reports with
    regard to the increase of child rape cases in India. Accordingly,
    the Court after hearing the Learned Amicus Curiae Mr. V. Giri, the
    Solicitor General Mr. Tushar Mehta and the Registrar Mr. Rathi, on
    the timely completion of investigations and consequential Trials of
    the offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences
    Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) gave certain directions vide the Order dated
    25.07.2019. The said directions are reproduced hereinbelow: -

                                 ORDER
         “Having considered the matter, we have deemed it proper
         to issue the following directions, which will be implemented
         by the Union of India and the State Governments forthwith: -
              (i) In each district of the country, if there are more
              than 100 cases under the POCSO Act, an exclusive/
              designated special Court will be set up, which will try
              no other offence except those under the POCSO Act.
              (ii) Such Courts will be set up under a Central scheme
              and will be funded by the Central Government, which
              fund will not only take care of the appointment of
              the Presiding Officer, but also the appointments of
              support persons, Special Public Prosecutors, Court
              staff and infrastructure including creation of child
              friendly environment and vulnerable witness Court
              rooms, etc.
              (iii) While drawing up the panel(s) of support persons
              in each district which should not exceed a reasonable
              number keeping in mind the total number of cases
              to be tried by the special Court to be set up in each
              district, care should be taken to appoint persons
              who are dedicated to the cause and apart from
              academic qualifications are oriented towards child
              rights; are sensitive to the needs of a child and are
              otherwise child friendly. The same standards would
              also apply in the matter of appointment of Special
              Public Prosecutors.
[2025] 5 S.C.R.                                                            1051

 In Re : Alarming Rise in the Number of Reported Child Rape Incidents


                (iv) The following suggestions of the learned Amicus
                Curiae shall also be implemented by the Ministry of
                Women and Child Development through such agency
                as may be considered appropriate: -
                      “(e) A short clip intended to spread an awareness
                      of the subject in general, namely, prevention of
                      child abuse and prosecution of crimes against
                      children, should necessarily be screened in
                      every movie hall and could also be transmitted by
                      various television channels at regular intervals. A
                      child helpline number should also be displayed
                      not only in such clip but also at various other
                      prominent places, in schools and other public
                      places.”
           From the reports of the learned Amicus Curiae, it appears
           to us that one of the major causes of delay in winding
           up the investigations and in cases where chargesheets
           have been filed, in winding up the trial, is delay in receipt
           of the reports from the Forensic Science Laboratory. The
           learned Amicus Curiae’s suggestion is that there should
           be designated Forensic Science Laboratories in every
           district of the country for the purposes of the POCSO Act.
           We are of the view that the said suggestion could await
           orders of the Court at a later stage.
           For the present, we direct the Directors of the State
           Forensic Science Laboratories and the concerned authority
           in the State Government to ensure that the existing and
           available Forensic Science Laboratories in each State
           will function in an effective manner insofar as analysis
           etc. of the samples collected under the POCSO Act are
           concerned and reports of such analysis be sent promptly
           and without any delay. The Chief Secretaries of all the
           States and Union Territories are directed to ensure that
           the above direction of the Court is complied with forthwith.”
2.   Subsequently, various directions came be to issued from time to
     time calling upon the States and the Registrar Generals of all High
     Courts to furnish the information mentioned in the said Order. On
     13.11.2019, the Registrar of Supreme Court submitted a Report
     detailing percentage share of different types of POCSO offences,
1052                                                       [2025] 5 S.C.R.

                        Supreme Court Reports


     upon which the Court directed the State Governments and Union
     of India to do the needful to ensure that all stages of investigation
     as well as of the Trials, as contemplated under the POCSO Act, are
     complied within the timeframe. The Court also directed the Union
     of India and the State Governments to take steps for sensitization
     of officials associated with the investigation and also for creation or
     assignment of dedicated Courts to try POCSO Cases on top priority.
3.   With regard to setting up of exclusive POCSO Courts in the country,
     this Court noticing that there were large number of POCSO Cases
     pending throughout the country laid down the parameters to be
     followed and gave directions for setting up exclusive POCSO Courts
     in each State. The Court laid down separate criteria for the States
     of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal where the pendency of POCSO
     Cases was extremely high, vide the Order dated 16.12.2019. The
     Court had also expressed its desire to consider the issue of framing
     National scheme for payment of compensation to the victims of
     offences under the POCSO Act.
4.   During the course of hearing of the issues involved, the Court had
     also expected the State Governments to establish dedicated Forensic
     Science Laboratories for POCSO Cases to expedite the investigation
     and had also expressed grave concern about the inadequate number
     of Public Prosecutors in the POCSO Courts. The issues with regard
     to providing security to the Victim and the Witnesses in Unnao Case
     were also addressed by passing necessary orders.
5.   It appears that the matter remained pending for quite a long time
     for consideration of the issues to be addressed to by the State
     Governments and the High Courts. On 24.09.2024, the Court
     requested the Amicus Curiae Mr. V. Giri and also Sr. Advocate Ms.
     Uttara Babbar to submit State-wise details with regard to the Status
     of the POCSO Courts in view of the earlier directions given by the
     Court from time to time. Accordingly, they have submitted a brief note
     of Submissions as also the Chart showing the Status as regards
     the POCSO Cases pending in the POCSO Courts under each of
     the High Courts. Having regard to the Chart showing the Status of
     POCSO Cases and POCSO Courts in each State, it appears that
     majority of the States with the funding from the Central government
     have complied with the directions issued by the Court for setting up
     exclusive courts for POCSO cases, however, in certain States like
     Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Maharashtra
[2025] 5 S.C.R.                                                      1053

 In Re : Alarming Rise in the Number of Reported Child Rape Incidents


     etc., there is still a need to create more POCSO Courts considering
     the pendency of the POCSO cases.
6.   In our opinion, since the timelines have been stipulated under the
     POCSO Act for all stages right from the stage of Investigation up to
     the stage of Trial, the same must be adhered to as far as possible.
     Because of the inadequacy of the number of exclusive Courts for the
     POCSO Cases, the said timelines mandated in the Act for completion
     of the trials are not being maintained. It is therefore expected that
     the Union of India and the State Governments shall take appropriate
     steps to sensitize the officials associated with the investigation of
     POCSO cases, and also to create dedicated Courts to try POCSO
     Cases on top priority basis, and to see to it that the chargesheets
     are filed within the mandatory period stipulated in the Act, and the
     Trials are completed within the time frame as contemplated in the Act.
7.   We would be failing in our duty, if we do not place on record, our
     appreciation for the very able assistance rendered by the learned
     Senior Counsels Mr. V. Giri and Ms. Babbar during this Suo Moto
     proceedings.
8.   Subject to the above, the Suo-Moto proceedings need to be closed
     and are hereby closed.

     Result of the case: Suo-Moto proceedings closed.



     †
         Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain