POCSO Act is gender neutral, misleading to say it's misused: HC

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Last Updated11/08/2023

Recently, the Delhi High Court stated To say that the POCSO Act is a gender-based law and is being misused is “not only inappropriate but misleading too”.

It was enacted in 2012 in consequence to India’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992.
Objective
- To protect children from sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography offences.
- To provide for the establishment of Special Courts for the trial of such offences.
It defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years.
The Act provides punishment as per the gravity of offence.
It was amended in 2019 to Introduce more stringent punishment including the death penalty for committing sexual crimes on children.

Gender-Neutral Nature
- The Act recognizes that both girls and boys can be victims of sexual abuse.
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
- Non-reporting has been made a specific offence under the POCSO Act.
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.
No time limit for reporting abuse
- A victim can report an offence at any time, even a number of years after the abuse has been committed.
Maintaining confidentiality of the victim’s identity
- It prohibits disclosure of the victim’s identity in any form of media, except when permitted by the special courts established under the act.