{"id":78950,"date":"2021-01-29T19:23:40","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T13:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=78950"},"modified":"2021-03-26T15:53:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T10:23:31","slug":"the-pocso-act-and-associated-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-pocso-act-and-associated-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"The POCSO Act and associated issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bombay High Court in Satheesh vs State of Maharastra case<\/strong> acquitted a man of sexual charges under the POCSO ( Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) <\/span>act. The court cited the stringent Mandatory Minimum Sentence provision in the POCSO act and punished the person based on the IPC section 354 (Outraging the modesty of women).<\/p>\n

However, the Supreme Court stayed the Bombay High Court verdict<\/a>. But this is not an only incident, where, an accused has been acquitted under POCSO Act. Today, one more HC acquitted an accused in a similar case.<\/p>\n

There is an urgent need to understand the issues and challenges Courts are facing in the implementation of The POCSO Act. The recent interpretation by Bombay High Court is one such issue among many.<\/p>\n

What is the POCSO Act?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) enacted in 2012 and amended in 2019. The Act was formulated <\/span>to effectively address sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and pornography<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Salient provisions of the Act:<\/b><\/p>\n

First, <\/b>The Act defines <\/b>Child as <\/b>any person below eighteen. The Act also defines different forms of sexual abuses.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Second, <\/b>The Act provides for relief and rehabilitation as soon as the complaint is made<\/strong> to the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police.<\/b><\/p>\n

Third,<\/b> The Act prescribes a maximum punishment of <\/i>life imprisonment or <\/em>the death penalty. The Act provides a mandatory minimum punishment<\/strong> of three years.<\/p>\n

Fourth<\/strong>, The Act provides for the establishment of Special Courts for the trial<\/strong> of offences under the Act.<\/p>\n

Read more about the POCSO Act<\/a><\/p>\n

What is the intent behind the enactment of the POCSO Act?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First<\/strong>, data from the 2011 Census shows, India has a 472 million population of children<\/strong> below the age of eighteen. To protect them<\/strong> from sexual offences separate legislation was required<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Second<\/strong>, India is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child<\/strong>. So the POCSO Act was a mandatory international commitment to protect the rights of children.<\/p>\n

Third<\/strong>, the Goa Children\u2019s Act 2003<\/strong> was the only legislation which specifically focuses on child abuse. Thus national-level legislation was the need of the hour that can be implemented in every State and UTs.<\/p>\n

Fourth<\/strong>, Child sexual abuse was prosecuted under various sections of IPC such as Section 375 deals with rape etc. But the IPC sections suffer from various issues<\/strong> such as<\/p>\n