POCSO Act – POCSO Act is an important legal framework in India that protects the rights & welfare of children against sexual assaults. In this Act, it is the responsibility of the concerned authority to create an environment where the young victim feels safe and respected during the legal proceedings. Read the whole article for more details.
Table of Contents
What is POCSO Act?
POCSO or Protection of children from sexual offences was enacted to protect person below 18 year of age whether it a boy or girls from any kind of sexual assault like rape, bad touch etc.
This POCSO Act was enacted in 2012 and was formulated to effectively address sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. The act has been amended in the year 2019 and the amendment contains provisions to Increase punishment against various offences, provide security and dignified childhood for a child.
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Features of POCSO Act
Here are the features of POCSO Act:-
- The act remains gender-neutral.
- The act defines a child (all those persons whose age are below eighteen).
- This act also defines different different forms of sexual abuse like penetrative and non-penetrative assault along with sexual harassment and pornography.
- Strict punishment will be given if the abused child is mentally ill or the perpetrator is connected to a trusted person or in the position of authority like a family member, police officer, teacher or doctor.
- The action will begin immediately after the complaint.
- Abusers will be given special juvenile police or local police protection.
- Emergency medical treatment or placing in the shelter room will be arranged immediately
- If a person is aware about those children who have been sexually abused l and does not report it can also be punished with six months imprisonment or a fine.
- According to this act, at least 3 years will be punished and at most punishment are life imprisonment or death penalty.
Background of POCSO Act
The case of Satish Ragde v. was going on in the High Court of Maharashtra, Bombay and the high court acquitted a accused under the POCSO Act. The court acquitted the accused by saying that he had laid his hands over the clothes. There was no skin to skin contact that is no physical contact with the victim. The Supreme Court stayed the case due to very useless logic.
Propose to exacted POCSO Act
The following are the propose to exacted POCSO Act.
- To protect children under 18 years of age from any sexual abuses.
- Earlier, there was no special act to protect children from any type of sexual offence.
- India has signed the United nation Convention on the rights of the child in 1992 that means According to this convention, in sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, the accused should be hardly punished as soon as possible and to be addressed as a heinous crimes.
- To create a deterrence effect in the people against the sexual offences against the children.
- Earlier such cases were solved only by IPC sections Like IPC section 375 which deals with cases like rape and protect only the traditional sexual offences like Peno-vaginal intercourse but does not protect male child and also IPC section 377 & 354 does not protect male child.
Safeguard available for children
Safeguard available for children are as follows.
- The act says that there should be no re-visualization of Child at the hands of the judicial system.
- The accused has to be away from the child during testifying.
- According to this act, the special court will conduct the trial without revealing the identity of the child as well as in child-friendly manner as much as possible.
- At the time of testifying, the child will either be accompanied by parents or by another trusted, Person.
- The Child can call an assistant for himself prom and interpreter, special educator or other professional while giving evidence.
- The case should be disposed of within 1 year from the date of complaint.
Why is POCSO better than IPC?
More categories than IPC have been defined inside POCSO. There can be women of any age in IPC but POCSO is only for the protection of children. POCSO Act Provides Higher Punishment than IPC sections Because Victims are Children.
Conclusion
POCSO only does justice to children who are victims of sexual offences, but also takes into account the best interests and welfare of the child. The POCSO Act provides favourable measures for children, for example, it is explicitly mentioned that a child is not required to be taken to a police station to report a case of sexual offence. Special courts established for the purpose of granting a speed test.
The special court can only take cognizance of any offence under this Act on receiving the complaint or police report. A child friendly environment can be created by a court that allows a family member or guardian to appear in court.
The act is gender bias from interpretation because it focuses more on the girl rather than the boy’s child. Since sexual abuse can happen to a child and now the rate of sexual abuse has been increased drastically. The mechanism under the Act should be simple so that the child and his family are not afraid to report the case. There are many cases of sexual abuse where children do not tell their parents.
The reason for not telling the child is that the person who abused them will stop loving them or will get into trouble because of them. This is due to manipulation during the escalation process and is also true in cases where the perpetrator is a family member. Social awareness will play a major role that will raise the child and family to report cases of sexual abuse.
Reference Links:-
https://www.ijfmr.com/papers/2023/6/10289.pdf
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3768096
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374159907_The_Analysis_of_Research_Review_for_the_Protection_of_Children_from_Sexual_Offences_Act_POCSO
https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJPUB1801224.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335916674_The_Protection_of_Children_from_Sexual_Offences_Act_POCSO_2012’_in_Clinical_Settings