Is The POCSO Act Enough? A Socio-Legal Analysis Of Gaps In Child Protection
- IJLLR Journal
- Jul 28
- 1 min read
Ananya Singh, Naina Mishra and Harshika Srivastava, BA LLB (H), Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh
ABSTRACT
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 is a pivotal legislative measure aimed to prevent child sexual abuse in India. It provides a comprehensive legal framework with child-friendly procedures and has an emphasis on the “best interests of the child”. Among other things, the Act provides for special courts; child friendly procedure for taking evidence; prohibits the accused from cross-examining the victim directly; requires gender neutrality; requires mandatory reporting; and gives primary importance for rehabilitation of victims and disposal of case as quickly as possible. However, for all the noble intentions, the POCSO Act is faced with numerous extraordinary challenges in its implementation, some being its persistently low conviction rate, vexingly long trial processes, lack of infrastructure and insufficient establishment of Special Courts. The issue of victim and witness protection should be viewed as a serious issue as well as the criminalization of consensual relations between young persons due to a uniform age of consent. A lack of public knowledge about the provisions in the Act, along with persistent stigma attached to sexual abuse, impacts the effectiveness of the Act.
