Protecting, rehabilitating minors who survived sexual abuse: Karnataka High Court issues SOP

The SOP is founded upon a set of non-negotiable principles that must inform every action, decision, and interpretation of its provisions by all stakeholders.

South First Desk

Published Nov 12, 2025 | 4:52 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 12, 2025 | 4:52 PM

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Karnataka High Court. (Creative Commons)

Synopsis: The Karnataka High Court issued a Standard Operating Procedure for the protection and rehabilitation of minor victims of sexual offences, after noticing a lack of compliance with existing directions.

The Karnataka High Court issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the protection and rehabilitation of minor victims of sexual offences, after noticing a lack of compliance with existing directions.

In an order dated 15 October, which came in response to a case involving a 13-year-old from Bengaluru Rural district, who was allegedly sexually assaulted and threatened by her uncle’s acquaintance.

While permitting medical termination of pregnancy (MTP), the court observed that several matters were appearing before the court where the victim is a child and the victim and/or her family had not been informed of the possibility of MTP being carried out at the right time.

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Founded upon a set of non-negotiable principles

According to the court order, the SOP is founded upon a set of non-negotiable principles that must inform every action, decision, and interpretation of its provisions by all stakeholders.

“Directions having been issued on several occasions, they continue to be ignored, and there is no compliance. I am of the opinion that all these could be resolved if a proper SOP is formulated by the Principal Secretary, Women and Child Welfare and the Director General of Police for all stakeholders to comply with. Until then, I propose to formulate the following indicative SOP, which would be in force until such a SOP is formulated,” Justice Suraj Govindaraj said, while issuing a SOP.

The objectives of the SOP are:

To guarantee the immediate safety, medical attention, and psychological first aid for every child victim.
To ensure an expeditious, sensitive, and trauma-free investigation by implementing child-friendly procedures at every stage.
To maintain absolute and technologically enforced confidentiality of the victim’s identity in all proceedings and records.
To coordinate a seamless inter-agency response through clearly defined roles, standardised documentation, and mandatory time limits.
To provide sustained, holistic rehabilitation — encompassing education, counselling, and livelihood support — until the child is successfully reintegrated into society as a healthy and productive adult

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Cloud-based software platform

The SOP mandated a secure, integrated, cloud-based software platform (called Digital POCSO Portal) for end-to-end case management, inter-agency communication, data sharing, and compliance monitoring.

Each victim will be assigned a unique, system-generated alphanumeric code, which will be used in place of the victim’s real name in all case records, communications, orders, and judgments to ensure anonymity.

A dedicated, 24/7 unit must be established in designated government and private hospitals, which will be staffed with trained female medical officers, nurses, and counsellors, to provide immediate and comprehensive medico-legal psychological care to victims.

Within seven days of the offence being reported, the SOP mandates that the psychologist or clinical psychiatric social worker assigned by the District Child Protection Unit must conduct a trauma assessment. Additionally, therapy must be continued for a minimum of two years post-incident or until certified recovery.

(Edited by Muhammed Fazil with inputs from Anisha Reddy.)