[POCSO Act] They Are ‘Survivors’ And Not ‘Victims’ Of Sexual Offences, Focus Must Be On Children’s Rehabilitation: Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju

Delhi High Court judge, Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju, on Saturday said that children who have been sexually abused must be called as “survivors” and not “victims” and that their rehabilitation should also be focused upon, as much as the law and punishing the offenders.

“No nation can flourish if children of the nation suffer from abuse of vulnerability. In as much as we focus on the rights and the laws of children and punishing offenders, we also have to focus towards rehabilitation of children. And I'm not going to at all call them victims. They are our greatest resource. There is no doubt about that. And unless there's a happy, healthy and safe environment around, they cannot progress,” the judge said.

Justice Ganju was speaking as a Chief Guest in a seminar organized by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights on “Rehabilitation of POCSO victims: Strategies, Challenges and Way Forward.”

At the outset, Justice Ganju emphasized on the use of the word “victim” while talking about the children with whom sexual offences are committed.

“I found that this is a word which has complete negative connotations. And I possibly didn't have enough time to think of a new word but a survivor or something, just the fact that continuously we are calling them a victim. They're not victim. They're actually a survivor,” Justice Ganju said.

She added that instead of a victim, such children may be called as survivor or any other “positive word.”

“….because what has happened has happened. They don't need to keep being reminded the fact that they are a victim,” she added.

The judge further said that law and courts are not static and that judges are constantly passing judgments towards rehabilitation and development of children. However, she said, a lot more needs to be done and that rehabilitation goes hand in hand with rights of children under the POCSO Act.

“It's up to us to act in a way where we work hand in hand to make sure that the rights of the child and the rehabilitation works. Process of healing is much longer for children who have suffered under the Act. So they require much more longer intervention and they also require intervention at every step,” she said.

The judge added: “Whether it's restorative care in medical in healthcare system, whether it's understanding of the educational, familial and health paralegal needs of the children…We cannot repair or reverse the trauma caused, but we do need to aid the child survivor, as I would like to call them, in regaining health in a regular life through the school, through their entire life.”

Justice Ganju also emphasised that in addition to the physical healing, mental healing of such children is equally important and the society cannot move further if both the aspects do not go hand in hand.

“The next step once hoping they've healed, at least to the best degree possible, would be providing an education and vocational training to help them come back into this society if they have indeed been ostracized, which is often the case. They need to be self sufficient, they need to get past the event. And they need to be able to just function as adults as when they reach the age of majority. They just need to function as the rest of society,” the judge said.

Justice Ganju also said that the facilitation process can be used wherein various agencies, which work for rehabilitation, can sit together and come up with suggestions and thoughts.

“This Act and the rehabilitation does indeed requires the collective effort of stakeholders, governments, non government, I believe we are also joined by NGOs and other agencies which are doing a lot of good work and I compliment them for all of that somebody is taking up the cause. Let us all work together to ensure that children of sexual abuse receive the care, support and justice that they need to lead a happy and fulfilling life,” Justice Ganju said.