JUDGMENT :

S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.

1. The enactment and bringing into force of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereafter ‘Act’ or ‘POCSO Act’) was not merely in furtherance of this country’s commitment to international instruments, but its resolve to and attempt at creating a world as secure and as free from fear, for the most innocent and vulnerable section of its citizens, i.e., children and young adults. Behaviour-physical, verbal, and non-verbal, ranging from what discomfits a child to as horrifying as rape and physical sexual abuse have been criminalized. Special mechanisms to provide access to the justice delivery system, and ensure speedy justice, have been devised. Yet, a society’s commitment to such a cause does not cease by mere enactment of any law, but its willingness, and those governing and administering it, to create and ensure effective overall frameworks which support and strengthen its institutions.

2. The present writ petition, arose from the strife caused to an individual victim in her painstaking struggle for justice while navigating th