Mechanism to monitor child abuse cases

Thiruvananthapuram: A mechanism to monitor cases of child abuse and strict implementation of the 2012 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act will become operational in Kerala from October 2.  This was decided at a meeting of officials here, convened by State Child Rights Protection Council chairperson Neela Gangadharan in the wake of increasing incidents of child abuse being reported from different parts of the state, an official release said.  The functions of the monitoring mechanism include setting up of special trial courts, appointment of Special Public Prosecutors, formulation of guidelines for NGOs and drawing up of a training protocol for police officials, the release said.