1 / 5

What is the POCSO Act and How is It Used: A Guide

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been in the news recently, after Bombay High Court Justice Pushpa Ganediwalau2019s controversial judgments in child sexual abuse cases.

Singhabhi
Download Presentation

What is the POCSO Act and How is It Used: A Guide

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. What is the POCSO Act and How is It Used: A Guide

  2. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was enacted in 2012, and is a special law to protect children. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been in the news recently, after Bombay High Court Justice Pushpa Ganediwala’s controversial judgments in child sexual abuse cases. Back in 2019, the POCSO Act garnered interest when an amendment was made to it when minimum punishment for aggravated as well as penetrative sexual assault on children below 16 years was increased from 10 to 20 years, extendable to life imprisonment or death. The POCSO Amendment Bill provides for stringent punishments for other crimes against all those below 18 years of age. The POCSO Bill also aims at making offences against children ‘gender neutral’.

  3. The POCSO Bill seeks to award strong punishment in cases of drugs being administered to children to bring about early sexual maturity. Speaking on the Bill, Irani said the legislation introduced a minimum jail term of 20 years or for the entire life and death penalty in rare cases according to the courts' discretion. According to Irani, around 620,000 sexual offenders were listed in the national database and they were being tracked by investigative agencies. She also expressed concern that the number of juvenile perpetrators of crimes was increasing. The minister also gave the suggestion of MPs that POCSO cases be taken up at district-level meetings.

  4. Punishments for Offences Covered in the Act • Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault (Section 5) — Not less than twenty years which may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine (Section 6) • Sexual Assault (Section 7) i.e. sexual contact without penetration — Not less than three years which may extend to five years, and fine (Section 8) • Aggravated Sexual Assault (Section 9) by a person in authority — Not less than five years which may extend to seven years, and fine (Section 10) • Sexual Harassment of the Child (Section 11) — Three years and fine (Section 12)

  5. Salient features of the Act and Its Amendment • The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age, and regards the best interests and well-being of the child as being of paramount importance at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child. • It defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography, and deems a sexual assault to be “aggravated” under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority vis-à-vis the child, like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor. For More About :POCSO Act

More Related