Safety of children online paramount: T'gana CM

Hindustan Times

9 hours ago

Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday emphasized the importance of protecting children from all kinds of abuse— including sexual abuse and abuse over social media. Gutha Sukender Reddy, Chairman Telangana legislative council welcomes state Chief Minister Revanth Reddy before addressing the council meeting at state Legislative Assembly, in Hyderabad on Saturday. State Congress President Bomma Mahesh Kumar Goud and party council members also present. (Mohammed Aleemuddin)
Speaking at the inaugural session of the state-level-meet 2025 on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act at Dr Marri Chenna Reddy Human Resource Development Institute in Hyderabad, the chief minister said that child survivors must be made central to the legal and moral framework addressing sexual offences perpetrated against them.
'We have to protect our children from sexual abuse, at any cost and with all means,' said Revanth Reddy.
He added that his government was giving top priority to the protection of children and women, saying that Telangana had pioneered child-friendly courts, run by Hyderabad Bharosa Centre. The goal was not just faster case disposal, but total child protection and development, said the chief minister.
'Telangana Bharosa Project has 29 centres. It provides police support, legal aid, medical assistance and counselling in a friendly environment,' he said.
Telangana Bharosa centers set up in all the districts of the state are aimed at centralising help and support measures for women and children affected by violence and sexual abuse in order to reduce the risk of re-victimization. Survivors are provided with psychological, legal, medical and rehabilitation support, besides police help and prosecution of the accused.
Stating that the Pocso Act and Juvenile Justice Act were highly progressive instruments in the country's legal framework, the chief minister, however, said they had their own problems in implementation. 'We must ensure procedures help child victims, not hurt them. We must also end child pornography, and impose strict punishments,' he said.
He called for curbing social media abuse of children and said the perpetrators must be treated without mercy. 'We must ensure justice and compassion for children not only in courts but also at police stations, child centres and in every step of this process,' he said, adding that justice was not just about conviction, but about restoration, about dignity, and reclaiming childhood.
Supreme Court judge justice Surya Kant, who is also executive chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NLSA), said the child protection framework in the country remained disjointed and under-equipped and there was a need for a fundamental shift in the system that treated the child not as a passive witness in a criminal trial, but as a person in urgent need of sustained and holistic care.
'The abused children must experience meaningful restorative justice—where the systems meant to protect them do not re-traumatise them. The system should prioritise the healing of children both within and outside the four walls of the courtroom, alongside ensuring accountability,' he said.
'Consider the case of a 10-year-old child made to recount trauma repeatedly—before a teacher, a police officer, a medical examiner, a lawyer, and then a judge. With each retelling, her voice grows fainter until it vanishes altogether,' added justice Kant.
Justice Kant observed that the distress of the victim was often compounded by the legal process. 'When the system forgets the child in its pursuit of the accused, it fails them both. He noted that this imbalance was not incidental, but structural,' he said, adding that the healing of an abused child was not just a legal requirement, but also a moral obligation and a Constitutional commitment.
He stressed that the task of protecting and supporting child victims was too important to be left to the legal system alone. It was not only the responsibility of the judiciary, police, and social workers—but a collective national duty.
Telangana high court acting chief justice Sujoy Paul, senior police officials of the women and child welfare department, legal services experts from UNICEF and other civil society organisations also attended the session.