The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, the Law Commission has told the government that existing minimum age of consent should not be changed.
About Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act:
- Enacted in 2012, It is the first comprehensive law in India dealing specifically with the sexual abuse of children.
- The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), administers Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
- Objective: The Act was created to safeguard minors under the age of 18 from crimes including sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography and to establish Special Courts for the trial of such crimes and occurrences that are related to them.
Salient Features POCSO Act :
- Gender-neutral law: By defining a child as “any person” under the age of 18, the POCSO Act provides a gender-neutral tone for the legal framework accessible to victims of child sexual abuse.
- It specifies different sexual abuse practises, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, sexual harassment, and pornography.
- It considers a sexual assault to be aggravated in certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by someone in a position of trustor authority over the child, such as a family member, etc.
- The sections of the Act that deal with abetment are also applicable to people who traffic children for sexual purposes.
- Under the Act, the attempted conduct of an offence is now punishable by up to half the punishment for the actual commission of the offence.
- There is no time restriction for filing a report of abuse: A victim may file a report at any time, even years after the abuse has been committed.
- Mandatory reporting: The Act also mandates that anybody who knows about the offence must report sexual abuse. If the person does not comply, they may be sentenced to six months in prison or a fine.
- Safeguards to victims: The Act includes child-friendly procedures for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and trial of offences. These include:
- Having the child’s statement recorded at his or her home or another location of their choosing, ideally by a female police officer of at least sub-inspector level.No child is to be detained in the police station at night for any reason.When the child’s statement is being recorded, police personnel should not be wearing uniforms.
- The child’s statement must be written down exactly as it was said.
- The kid’s medical examination must take place with the child’s parent or another adult present who the child has faith or trust in.
- No aggressive interrogation or defamation of the youngster during a case’s closed-door trial.
o The Act made it clear that the accused should not be seen by the young victim during the testimony, and that the trial should take place behind closed doors.
o It further mandated that, to the extent practicable, the Special Court finish the trial within a year of the date of cognizance.
Amendment to the POCSO Act :
• In order to prevent abusers and guarantee a decent upbringing, the Act was revised for the first time in 2019 to strengthen the penalties for specified offences.
To combat child pornography, this amendment strengthened the penalty by adding the death penalty for severe penetrative sex attack on children. It also includes provisions for penalties and up to 20 years in jail.