In a severe breach of privacy, sensitive personal details of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) survivors, including names, contact numbers, addresses, and case information, were handed over to unvetted students and graduates during a government-commissioned study. The study, intended to assess the impact of victim compensation, carried out between January 2023 and July 2024, was outsourced to the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Chennai by the Tamil Nadu State Child Protection Society and the Department of Social Defense.
Despite halting the study in July, authorities made no effort to retrieve and ensure security for the data, leaving survivors vulnerable to potential harm, exploitation, and stigmatisation. Experts have raised alarms over the lack of safeguards to protect survivor identities, calling for urgent action to mitigate risks and address the gross violation of privacy.
The POCSO Act explicitly mandates the protection of child sexual abuse survivors' identities to prevent re-traumatization and re-victimization, making this breach of confidentiality a grave violation of their rights and safety. Under Section 33(7) of the POCSO Act, a child survivor's identity or any details that could aid in identifying them, should not be disclosed during the process of investigation or trial and is protected by the special courts.
In January 2023, the study titled ‘Impact Assessment on POCSO Victim Compensation’ was approved by the Project Sanctioning Committee under S Valarmathi, the then Director of Social Defence and Secretary of State Child Protection Society. It was awarded to VIT Chennai after considering the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the project, a source from the department said.
The study, which had a financial grant component of Rs 5.95 lakh was offered to Dr V Vijayalakshmi, Associate Professor of Sociology, School of Social Sciences and Language at VIT, through a letter dated January 20, 2023. It was officially approved by Valamathy three days later.
How VIT’s researcher conducted the study
Vijayakshmi, through WhatsApp, recruited graduates and students pursuing their Masters from various colleges and universities in Tamil Nadu to conduct field investigation. TNM has seen several forwarded messages shared widely on WhatsApp groups which said women investigators are being enrolled for field work in districts of Kanyakumari, Krishnagiri, Dindigul, Dharmapuri, Madurai, and Erode among many others. It asked interested candidates to contact Vijayalakshmi.
TNM traced graduates/students, recruited as field investigators, and found that none of them were screened, interviewed nor sensitised about handling POCSO survivors.
After selection they received a letter via mail on a VIT letterhead, stating that details of the study should be kept confidential. They were then added to a video call where they were simply instructed to go to the houses of POCSO victims after collecting data sets from each of their respective district’s District Child Protection Officers (DCPOs). These data sets, which were handed over to the graduates/students as hard copies, had details of the survivors such as their names, their residential addresses, the names of the parents/ guardians, their court case number and their case’s proceeding number among others.
During house visits the graduates/students asked questions from the questionnaire prepared by Vijayalakshmi. The questionnaire seen by TNM had 17 questions out of which five were aimed at understanding how much money the survivor had received, whether there were delays in receiving compensation and how the money had been put to use by the family.
Each POCSO victim’s response was asked to be compiled and sent over WhatsApp. While one of the three people hired was paid for their work, the other two claimed that they weren’t compensated.
Child rights activist Devaneyan said the basic principle of POCSO is to create a system that acts in the best interest of a child survivor. “First, giving out details to a third party is problematic and second, the third party wasn’t even trained to investigate sensitive cases. Even if one field investigator had stopped by to ask for directions by stating that they are looking for ‘the house of the child who was sexually abused,’ it would amount to re-traumatisation and re-victimisation,” he said.
Days after sanctioning the study, in February 2023, Valarmathi was transferred and Amar Kushawha was appointed in her place.
In a letter signed by Amar Kushawha dated June 18, 2023, it was made clear that the first instalment, with 50% of the grant constituting Rs 2,97,500, was disbursed to VIT’s Vijayalakshmi. The same letter mentioned that details of the POCSO survivors who were beneficiaries of the Victim Compensation fund had been “collected and arrayed” and that the sample size of the study should cover all the beneficiaries (100%). It is, however, not known how many years’ POCSO data had been “collected and arrayed” for the study.
Natharsha Malim H, Tamil Nadu’s State Coordinator for Association for Voluntary Action (AVA), said such sensitive details, that even the special court protects, cannot and should not be handed out to any third party. “Ideally, such follow-ups on victim compensation should be done by DCPOs themselves or they can collect such details from Support Persons appointed by the state for each survivor.” The appointment of Support Persons for child survivors is however not being implemented in the state even 12 years after the rules were formulated under the 2012 Act.
The letter dated June 18, 2023, also said that the study should cover the psychological impact on the children and their families, and how they recovered from the same. It is unclear how and whether the fresh graduates and students, who had no training, probed these aspects with sensitivity as it involves speaking to survivors. Ideally, interviewing child survivors of abuse would require their legal guardians or parents’ written permission and the children’s assent based on the said research university’s prescribed ethical guidelines. Further, any such questioning needs to be trauma-informed as stated in POCSO guidelines.
Sources in the Department of Social Defense said in July 2024, that is 1.5 years after the study commenced, it was stopped by Jayashree Muralidharan, the Secretary to government, Department of Social Welfare and Women Development. This was after concerns were raised over outsourcing the study. Others in the department said they weren't aware of sensitive information being shared with those hired for the study.
Those recruited for the study said that they were asked to stop their work on July 30, 2024, but reported that no efforts were made to take back the data sets from them. Vijayalakshmi also confirmed the same to TNM over a call but refused to answer other questions from TNM including questions on privacy concerns. This story will be updated if TNM receives a response from her.
Minutes after TNM met with Jayashree Muralidharan from the Department of Social Welfare and Women Development for a reaction on Monday, November 18, Vijayalakshmi sent messages to the students/graduates, reminding them that the study has been halted since July and told them that no one can contact or investigate any of the child sexual abuse survivors. Asking them to send all the reports they possess as soft copies to her e-mail ID, she warned them of criminal repercussions if they publicised the data.
But, Devaneyan noted that even if any of the investigators had casually dumped the data sets in dustbins without shredding them completely and if the papers were to be found in the wrong hands, it could mean trouble to the survivors. Since the investigators weren’t interviewed nor trained, the possibilities of the data being misused in their hands are also high.
As of Tuesday, November 19, VIT’s website said that the research project is still in-progress.
Flagging the need for protecting the identity and dignity of child survivors in the state following the concerns raised by the handling of this study, Devaneyan said Tamil Nadu should draft a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to outline how the data of POCSO survivors should be handled. He also emphasised on the need for an inquiry to be ordered into the study. “Everyone who has been involved, from sanctioning the study, to conducting the study, should be questioned and the hard copies of the data sets should be taken back soon," he said.