HYDERABAD: South India's first Children's Court was inaugurated in Hyderabad, making Telangana the third state to have a child-friendly court, sixth in the country with features, including separate waiting rooms for children and a video camera trial for the accused, all mandated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act – 2012. The courtroom was jointly inaugurated at the Nampally Criminal Courts Complex by Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan of High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad, and Director General of Telangana Police Anurag Sharma.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge T Rajani said there were over 1,640 cases under the POSCO Act that were pending at different stages in different district courts of Telangana till 2015. He added that the court will not handle any other cases other than those relating to children, making the volume of case work much less. "The child will be allowed direct interaction with the judge, while the accused will be able to view and hear the proceedings via two-way video conferencing in the courtroom," the judge said.
Unlike a conventional court set-up, the judge and police personnel will be in plain clothes in the court and, the child will not be allowed to come face to face with the alleged offenders to make sure he/she is not intimidated while the proceedings are on.
