Chennai: Child rights activists have questioned why the Juvenile Justice Boards in Tamil Nadu lack the child-friendly facilities mandated by law when several POCSO courts have them.
"When there is a need for child-friendly facilities for a 14-year-old survivor with a 21-year-old accused, why does the same not apply to a 14-year-old survivor when the accused is a 17-year-old?" asked one child-rights activist. Former Madras High Court judge Dr S Vimala stressed that child-friendly facilities must be made available in all courts hearing POCSO cases.
The Department of Children Welfare and Special Services, in a letter dated May 10, 2025, informed the Registrar General of the Madras HC that the government had sanctioned `35 lakh for child-friendly facilities at regular POCSO courts in Coimbatore, Salem, Madurai, Tiruchy and Tirunelveli.
Two months later, as per a government order dated July 17, 2025, `10 lakh each was sanctioned for the same facilities in the districts of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Dharmapuri, Virudhunagar and Thoothukudi. Activists have questioned why funds were allocated to the Chennai POCSO court when it already had child-friendly facilities and why funds were allocated to Kancheepuram when it does not even have a POCSO court. They questioned why the funds were not given instead to additional POCSO courts and the JJBs.
M Parvathy Srinivasan, a practising lawyer at JJBs for 15 years, told TNIE that as several JJBs function from rented spaces and some of them from cramped rooms, it becomes extremely difficult for them to provide child-friendly facilities.
"Advocates and board members are also struggling without space. Only if the JJBs function in government buildings planned for them can they provide all the child-friendly facilities," she said.
S Ramalingam, a former member of a JJB, Child Welfare Committee and Tamil Nadu State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNCPCR), said that although the government is planning to construct separate buildings for JJBs, it is progressing very slowly.
"The government must immediately take action in this regard as children are not the same as adults. It is difficult for them to process trauma. While JJBs are using available resources to prevent exposure of child victims to CCLs they may not be guaranteeing it. Even if they see the CCL once by accident, they may recollect the incident and get affected mentally."
Psychiatrist and co-founder of the Schizophrenia Research Foundation Dr Thara Rangaswamy said exposure to a CCL may increase psychological trauma among survivors. "As it is, children who have survived such crimes would be deeply traumatised.
Exposing them more and more to the CCLs would increase sensitivity and psychological trauma. There is a possibility of children getting affected in many ways. Some may not be able to focus on studies, some may go silent and some may become aggressive," she said.
An official from the Children Welfare Department told TNIE that Tulir-Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, a Chennai-based NGO, had written to the state government requesting provision of these facilities. The government has asked the department to file a report and the matter is under discussion, he said.