The city police today told the Delhi High Court that it proposed to bring in a new system of forwarding the FIRs related to sexual violence against minors to the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) to ensure that the victims got the necessary legal aid.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar was also informed that a display board was installed at all the police stations with phone numbers and e-mail addresses of those concerned in this regard.
The Delhi police counsel further submitted that the legal aid counsel would be available round-the-clock and that the victims as well the accused could avail of his services.
Noting that such FIRs should be sent to the DSLSA within 24 hours, the bench said the police should work on a mechanism, under which the same could be sent immediately.
"There should be a robust system in place with regard to providing legal aid to the victims of sexual offences as well as the accused," the bench observed.
It added that the boards containing information about the legal aid services should be displayed prominently at the police stations.
"The DSLSA shall ensure that the compensation, in accordance with the Victim Compensation Scheme, 2015, is released at the earliest. Needless to say that the DSLSA shall comply with the necessary procedure prescribed in the scheme," the bench observed.
The police furnished the information during the hearing of a PIL, which was initiated by the court on its own after taking cognizance of news reports on the sexual assault of a five-year-old girl inside her school in east Delhi.
The court decided to initiate the proceedings on its own after noting that the Delhi government had ordered the suspension of the medical officer concerned for "negligence" in treating the rape survivor.
"The reports raise issues of public interest," the bench said, adding, "There can be nothing more important than the information or report of such crimes being brought to the immediate attention of the DSLSA, to enable it to take immediate steps for providing legal aid to the victim as well as compensation."
It also noted that in the present case, there was an intervention by the police, but no such step by the DSLSA.
The bench said DSLSA interventions were "must" so far as the victims of sexual offences, both adults and children, were concerned.
This, while ensuring justice to the victim, would also ensure that the best assistance was available to the police for effectively investigating the crime as well as for the medical treatment and examination of the victims, it said.
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