Kerala High Court slams State for delay in framing, implementing sexual abuse prevention programme in schools

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday strongly rebuked the State government for delaying the implementation its previous orders to create a prevention-oriented programme on sexual abuse as part of the school curriculum [Anoop v State of Kerala]..The State counsel had previously informed the Court pursuant to its December 2022 order, the State had constituted an expert committee and to study the measures to be taken against child abuse. Just last week, a report was submitted by the Additional Director of General Education referring to various measures purported to have been suggested by the committee.However, at the hearing today, advocate Parvathy Menon, appearing for the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KELSA) informed the Court that the committee had not even met once or officially intimated KELSA about any meetings. .Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas took a very serious view of the matter saying that if Menon's submission is accurate, the State had misled the court. "It is an unpardonable state of affairs by practically amounting to defiling the orders of this Court and even misleading this Court by stating in the report dated 17.02.2023 that “the Committee has suggested measures”", the court said in its order. .Consequently, the Court directed the directed the Director General of Education (DGE) and Additional Director of Education (ADE), who are the committee chairman and convenor respectively, to appear before it on Monday, February 27, "to explain the details of the committee meetings and the measures taken by them in those alleged committee meetings".It was in 2022, while hearing a bail application, that the Court had flagged the specific issue of cases being registered against teenagers who, while in a relationship beyond platonic love, often ended up unwittingly committing a crime punishable under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act).Since then, the Court has passed orders directing that school curriculum ought to include sessions/classes on the provisions of the POCSO Act as well as the amendments brought into Section 376 of IPC. For formulating an appropriate sexual abuse prevention program, different education boards were directed to form expert committees.The counsel for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is concerned submitted on Wednesday that it had formed such a committee and that a draft report has been prepared. The court expressed satisfaction with the steps taken by CBSE and granted three weeks for the finalization of its draft report..[Read Orders]