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* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment reserved on: 16.12.2025 Judgment pronounced on: 11.03.2026 Judgment uploaded on: 13.03.2026 + CRL.M.C. 3880/2025 & CRL.M.A. 16947/2025 MINOR CHILD K & ORS. .....Petitioners Through: Mr. Nitin Saluja, Ms Nimisha Menon, Ms Pranya Madan and Ms Ankita Talukdar, Advs.

versus STATE NCT OF DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Manoj Pant, APP for the State along with SI Sonia.

Ms. Prachi Dubey, Amicus Curiae CORAM:

HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE SWARANA KANTA SHARMA

J U D G M E N T

Index to the Judgment FACTUAL BACKGROUND ................................................................... 3 SUBMISSIONS BEFORE THE COURT .............................................. 5 ANALYSIS & FINDINGS .................................................................... 11 A. Vulnerable Witnesses in Criminal Justice System: Scope and Judicial Approach ............................................................................................................ 11 B. Safeguards under the POCSO Act to Protect Child Victims During Trial ...................................................................................................................... 18 C. Use of Video Conferencing for Examination of Vulnerable Witnesses ............................................................................................................. 22 D. Presence of Victim during Bail Hearings in Cases of Sexual Offences .............................................................................................................. 31 E. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 36 DR. SWARANA KANTA SHARMA, J

1. By way of the present petition, the petitioners have approached this Court seeking, firstly, the setting aside of the bailable warrants dated 22.04.2025 issued against petitioner no. 1 in SC Case No. 622 of 2022, by the learned ASJ (SC-POCSO), South East, Saket Courts, Delhi [hereafter ‗Trial Court‘]. The petitioners, in prayer (b), have also prayed that appropriate directions be issued to the learned Trial Courts to ensure strict compliance with the principles laid down by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in XXXX v. State: Crl.A. 198/2020 (order dated 11.01.2023) as well as the guidelines framed by the Hon‘ble Supreme Court in Smruti Tukaram Badade v. State of Maharashtra: (2022) 18 SCC 24, and the judgment of the Coordinate Bench in Vikas v. State of Delhi: 2020:DHC:3058 particularly with regard to safeguarding the interests of child victims during trial. In addition, by virtue of prayer (c), the petitioners pray for passing of further directions/guidelines that in proceedings under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 [hereafter ‗POCSO Act‘], where repeated adjournments sought by the accused or their counsel delay the examination of minor victims, the learned Trial Courts may permit the cross-examination of such victims to be conducted through video-conferencing.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

2. The brief facts of the case, as set out in the petition, are that on 06.08.2022, a missing complaint was lodged at the Police Station (P.S.) Defence Colony by Mr. S.K., the father of petitioner no. 1, along with Ms. B.K., the grandmother of petitioner no. 3, and Ms. S.P., the sister of petitioner no. 2. It was reported that the three petitioners, who are minor girls, had gone missing. On the basis of the said complaint, the FIR bearing no. 153/2022 was registered under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 [hereafter ‗IPC‘]. It is stated that on 08.08.2022, the three missing minor girls were traced at P.S. Karol Bagh and were thereafter brought to P.S. Defence Colony. Their statements under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [hereafter ‗Cr.P.C.‘] were recorded at P.S. Defence Colony on 09.08.2022 and 10.08.2022. In these statements, it was disclosed that the minor children had allegedly been repeatedly sexually abused, assaulted