POCSO ACT
Present circumstances:
- Inadequacies in the law’s application, such as an increase in the number of cases that are pending and a high percentage of acquittals, were discovered in a recent study of POCSO cases across India, which specifically target child sexual assault.
Evaluation of POSCO cases:
- The analysis, titled “A Decade of POCSO,” was done by the Justice, Access and Lowering Delays in India (JALDI) Initiative at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in collaboration with the World Bank’s Data Evidence for Justice Reform (DE JURE) initiative.
- It looked at 230,730 cases between February of 2012 and February of 2021 in 486 districts located across 28 states and Union Territories. Case legislation, policy initiatives, and case metadata were gathered via the eCourts, a computerised platform that offers details on ongoing litigation, court orders, etc.
Why was the POCSO law passed in 2012? How does it work?
- In addition to ratifying significant international treaties like the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, India has several constitutional provisions that protect children’s rights.
- However, India did not have any explicit laws to stop child sex abuse.
- As a result of a rise in child abuse cases, the state government passed a law in 2003 protecting children’s rights.
- The Special Expert Committee, headed by Justice VR Krishna Iyer, proposed the Children’s Law Bill, 2000, as a draught code for children’s rights in India.
- The Department of Women and Child Development also drafted a bill in 2005 to address numerous offences against children.
- It was discovered that 50.76 percent of the children polled reported having experienced sexual abuse in some way in a 2007 report titled The Study of Child Abuse, which was published by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and covered 13 states with a sample size of 12,447 children, 2,324 young adults, and 2,449 stakeholders.
- Contrary to what was believed at the time, more males than girls reported overall experiencing sexual abuse.
- The Ministry of Women and Child Development’s Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Bill, 2010, underwent multiple rounds of revisions before becoming the POCSO Act on November 14, 2012, Children’s Day.
What are the key findings about child abuse?
- Low conviction rate: The data show that 43.44% of POCSO trials end in acquittals and 14.03% in convictions. For every conviction in a POCSO case, there are three acquittals.
- The ratio of acquittals to convictions is noticeably higher for each of the states under consideration. For instance, in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, the ratio of acquittals to convictions is five times higher. Kerala has a relatively small discrepancy between convictions and acquittals, with convictions making up 16.49% of all dispositions and acquittals making up 20%.
- Victim is aware of the accuser: Only 6% of the 138 verdicts that the study carefully analysed involved an accuser who was unfamiliar to the victim.
- In contrast to 44% of the cases where there was no known connection between the victim and the offender, 22.9% of the cases involved acquaintances, 3.7% involved family members, and 18% involved previous romantic connections.
- In 96% of the cases filed under the POCSO Act, 2012, the accused was someone the child victim knew; in 48.66% of cases, the accused is either the kid’s acquaintance or a romantic partner, according to data made public by the National Crime Record Bureau in 2021.
- According to the survey, there were 138 occurrences in which victims ranged in age from under 10 (5.47%), to between 10 and 15 (28%), and from 15 to 18 (17.8%), according to the report. The victim’s age was unknown in 48% of cases.
How much justice is delivered through POCSO?
- Although the Act mandates that such complaints be completed within a year, the study found that it takes an average of 509.78 days to resolve a POCSO complaint.
- The number of POCSO cases that were still pending rose gradually over time, but between 2019 and 2020 there was a sharp rise in that figure, which was probably brought on by the COVID-19 epidemic.
- The police’s slow investigation process and the delay in submitting sample deposits to the Forensic Science Laboratories are two major contributing factors, according to the report.
- In total, 22.76% of cases were resolved by transfers from one court to another, and “one-fifth of the cases in this sample concluded in transfers,” according to the report. Since POCSO cases are supposed to be prosecuted by the Special Court, the transfers indicate “either administrative mismanagement or wrong appreciation of facts by the police.”
- Although transfers made up only about 8% of all disposals in 2013, their share rose to just over 19% in 2019 and a startling 42% in 2020. Due to the time lost when cases are transferred between courts, this pattern has been labelled “concerning” by the report.
What are the various Indian states like today?
- Delhi had the most POCSO trials in the country in 2018 with 13.54 cases per 100,000 people; this does not necessarily mean that there are more sexual offences taking place, but rather that there is greater awareness of these crimes and more cases being reported.
- But Delhi also had the longest average case length in the country in 2020. (1,284.33 days).
- Chandigarh and West Bengal are the only states where convictions frequently occur in less than a year. The states of Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Sikkim, Chandigarh, and the NCT of Delhi have higher reported rates of POCSO cases.
What are the gaps in implementation?
- According to the report, “support individuals” are not frequently assigned in POCSO circumstances. Additionally, the victim was not provided with a support person in 96% of the cases, according to the Supreme Court.
- An advocate for children’s rights or child protection, a representative of the child’s home or shelter, or a DCPU employee who stands by the victim throughout the entire legal process are all examples of support people.
- Additionally, the analysis highlights the fact that not all districts have POCSO courts. As of 2022, 408 POCSO courts had been established as part of the government’s Fast Track Special Courts Scheme in 28 States. Because there aren’t enough Special Public Prosecutors appointed specifically to handle POCSO cases, they are frequently used for non-POCSO cases even after being appointed.
