POCSO Act

The Bombay High Court recently said that the POCSO Act was enacted not to punish minors in a consensual relationship and to brand them as criminals.

About the POCSO Act –

• The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act is a comprehensive act that came into force in November 2012.
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development introduced the act.
• Commonly known as POCSO Act, it deals with offences related to children.
• This act addresses heinous crimes and protects a child from sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography.
• The POCSO Act, 2012 lays down the punishment for exposing children to any kind of sexual offence.
• The enactment of this act increased the scope of reporting sexual crimes against children.
• What was the need of this act?
  • • The act was required as the Indian Penal Code was inadequate to address Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, Pornography and Sexual Violence against boys and a child.
    • The act is gender-neutral and recognises both girls and a boy as a victim of sexual violence.
    • The POCSO was also required as the procedure for the crime reported under IPC is more rigid and also not child friendly.
    • Also, India is a signatory of the United Nations Convention on Rights of Children (UNCRC).
    • The POCSO Act, 2012 was enacted to ensure child-friendly procedure for the filing of the report and fulfils the requirement of Article 15(3) of the Constitution of India. Clause 3 of Article 15 of the Constitution gives powers to the legislature to create special provisions for women and children.
• Features of POCSO Act –
  • • The Act defines the various types of offences, touch-based, non-touch, penetrative, pornographic crimes etc., in detail and doesn’t leave any kind of offence.
    • The act also defines the person under the age of 18 as a child.
    • The act also has a feature to give compensation to the victim.
    • Only the POCSO Court has the jurisdiction to deal with the matter related to the act.
    • The INNOCENT TILL PROVEN GUILTY principle does not apply in the matter related to the POCSO Act, 2012. Once a complaint gets filed in this case, it gets presumed that the intention was to commit a sexual act.
    • If a child goes through abuse at home, he will get relocated by the Child Welfare Commission for care and protection.