By: Express News ServiceBengaluru | November 11, 2025 10:50 PM IST 3 min readIn the current case, the court also directed the DNA of the terminated foetus to be preserved for the criminal investigation. (File photo)The Karnataka High Court last month put forth a technology-oriented standard operating procedure (SOP), including a digital Pocso portal, to assist victims in cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act until another SOP is framed with expert assistance. The portal is intended to aid management of all Pocso cases in Karnataka.The context of the court directions, which came in an order passed on October 15 by a bench of Justice Suraj Govindaraj, was a case involving a 13-year-old girl sexually assaulted and threatened by her uncle’s acquaintance. She was found to be pregnant in a medical examination. The petition before the court sought medical termination of the pregnancy, taking into account the report of a hospital’s medical board, as well as the young age of the girl and her right to bodily autonomy.While the bench agreed with these contentions and granted permission for the medical termination of pregnancy, it observed that many cases came before the court where minor victims were not informed about the possibility of medical termination in time. They then had to approach the court as the maximum time limit for termination had been crossed. Ordinarily, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act allows termination up to 20 weeks if at least two medical practitioners agree on a risk to the mother’s physical or mental health, among other conditions.In the current case, the court also directed the DNA of the terminated foetus to be preserved for the criminal investigation.In this context, the court set forth an SOP, clarifying that it would be for experts to improve and exhaustively formulate it as soon as possible. The court directed that an online platform be created to manage all Pocso cases in Karnataka, with real-time data from police networks, along with “pseudonym identifiers” and other methods of encryption to ensure the anonymity of the victims.The bench stated that this system would be programmed with all the mandatory deadlines in Pocso cases such as the deadlines for chargesheets and medical examination. Any breach of a timeline would trigger an automatic escalation via SMS and email. It also mandated the creation of committees at the district and state levels to monitor case progress and compliance data. The SOP also includes workflows and expected timelines from the reporting of the offence onwards.© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:KarnatakaKarnataka High Court