Ministry of Women and Child Development has informed the Lok Sabha that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012, is one of the crucial legislations enacted by the Government to protect children from Sexual Abuse.POCSO Act came into effect on 14th November 2012 which was enacted in consequence to India’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992.The aim of this special law is to address offences of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, which were either not specifically defined or in adequately penalised.
The Act defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years. The Act provides punishment as per the gravity of offence.The Act was further reviewed and amended in 2019 to Introduce more stringent punishment including the death penalty for Committing sexual crimes on children, with a view to deter the perpetrators & prevent such crimes against children.The Government of India has also notified the POCSO Rules, 2020.
Features
Gender-Neutral Nature
- The Act recognizes that both girls and boys can be victims of sexual abuse and that such abuse is a crime regardless of the gender of the victim.
- This is in line with the principle that all children have the right to protection from sexual abuse and exploitation, and that laws should not discriminate based on gender.
Ease in Reporting Cases
- There is sufficient general awareness now to report cases of sexual exploitation of children not only by individuals but also by institutions as non-reporting has been made a specific offence under the POCSO Act.
- This has made it comparatively difficult to hide offences against children.
Explicit Definition of Terms
- The storage of child pornography material has been made a new offence.
Further, the offence of ‘sexual assault’ has been defined in explicit terms (with increased minimum punishment) unlike an abstract definition of ‘outraging modesty of a woman’ in the Indian Penal Code