A POCSO trial asks a child to navigate police stations, medical examinations, Magistrates, Special Courts and cross-examination — an itinerary that intimidates adults. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Rules, 2020 address this with the institution of the support person: an individual assigned by the Child Welfare Committee to render assistance to the child through the process of investigation and trial. This explainer describes how support persons are appointed, what the Rules require of them, and why defence counsel too should understand the institution correctly.
Why the institution exists
POCSO's procedural chapters — Sections 24 to 27 on recording statements, Sections 33 to 38 on the child-friendly trial — are built on a premise: a child cannot be processed like an ordinary witness. But statutory child-friendliness needs a human carrier. Investigating officers change; prosecutors meet the child at the courtroom door; parents are themselves distressed, and in intra-family cases may be conflicted. The support person is the Rules' answer — a consistent, trained presence attached to the child, accountable to the Child Welfare Committee, whose brief is the child's interest alone.
Appointment: the CWC's role
The job description
- Information: explaining, in the child's language, what each stage means — the statement to the police, the Section 183 BNSS statement before the Magistrate, the medical examination, the deposition;
- Accompaniment: being present with the child at the police station, hospital and court, within the framework the Special Court permits;
- Entitlements: ensuring applications for interim and final compensation are made, counselling is arranged, and schooling continues undisrupted;
- Communication: conveying the child's fears — of the accused, of publicity, of school gossip — to the investigating officer, prosecutor and court so protective measures under the Act are actually invoked;
- Confidentiality: observing the identity-protection regime of Section 23 POCSO strictly, in every interaction and record.
Why the defence should care
It is a mistake for the defence to treat the support person as an adversary. The institution's integrity serves both sides of a fair trial: a child who understands the process gives clearer, more reliable evidence, and a properly conducted support arrangement — documented, consent-based, non-prompting — reduces the grounds for later challenge to the deposition. Where a support person crosses the line into coaching, the remedy is a contemporaneous objection on the record before the Special Court, not a generalised attack on the scheme.
The Delhi context
In Delhi, the District Child Protection Units, the Child Welfare Committees of each district and the Delhi State Legal Services Authority together operate the support ecosystem, with DSLSA's victim-compensation machinery handling interim compensation recommendations that Special Courts frequently route through the support person's reports. Practitioners appearing in the capital's POCSO courts will find that a well-functioning support arrangement measurably improves the pace of the trial — adjournments for an absent, unprepared or terrified child fall away when someone whose job it is has prepared the ground.
Note: This explainer describes the scheme of the POCSO Rules, 2020 in general terms for information. It is not legal advice and does not refer to any matter conducted by the chamber.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can be appointed as a support person?
Under the POCSO Rules, 2020, the Child Welfare Committee may assign a support person — a person or organisation working in child rights or protection, an official of a children's home or shelter home, or a person employed by the District Child Protection Unit — with the consent of the child's parent, guardian or other person in whom the child has trust and confidence.
Is a support person mandatory in every case?
The scheme is child-centred rather than mechanical: the CWC assesses the need when the matter comes before it, and the child or family may decline. Judicial directions in recent years have pushed strongly towards ensuring that the option is actively considered and offered in every case rather than left on paper.
What does the support person actually do?
The Rules task the support person with informing the child and family of the case's progress, accompanying the child to the police, medical examination and court, ensuring the child's entitlements — compensation applications, counselling, education continuity — are pursued, and communicating the child's needs to the authorities. They are a bridge, not a substitute for the prosecutor or counsel.
Can the defence object to a support person's presence?
Presence during testimony is regulated by the Special Court, which controls its own proceedings; the child-friendly trial provisions of POCSO contemplate a trusted person being present. What the defence may legitimately insist on is that the support person not prompt or tutor the witness — a line trial courts police, and a properly trained support person respects.