The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has directed the State Police Chief to entrust the Deputy Superintendents of Police (Dy.SPs) of the District Crime Records Bureau concerned with reviewing the progress of investigation in cases of child sexual abuse. Each case registered in the district should be reviewed, and it should be ensured that a charge sheet was filed within three months, commission chairperson Shobha Koshy and member J. Sandhya said. The progress should be reviewed by district police chiefs at meetings held specifically for cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Before submitting the charge sheet, the investigators should hand over a draft of the final report to the special public prosecutor in the children’s court in the district concerned, and take action on the basis of the prosecutor’s directions. The State Police Chief should inform all station house officers and police inspectors about this. The commission asked the State Police Chief to inform it of the steps taken in this regard within 45 days. — Staff Reporter
