An independent think-tank’s analysis of cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, conducted in eCourts across the country, revealed that 43.44% of trials result in acquittals, while only 14.03% lead to convictions.
The analysis, titled “A Decade of Pocso”, was carried out by the Justice, Access and Lowering Delays in India (JALDI) Initiative at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, in collaboration with the Data Evidence for Justice Reform (DE JURE) program at the World Bank. It studied 230,730 cases from eCourts in 486 districts spanning 28 states and Union Territories for the period 2012 to 2021.
According to the analysis, 96% of cases filed under POCSO had the accused as a person known to the victim. It also found that over 56% of all POCSO cases correspond to penetrative sexual assault.
The study also revealed that it takes an average of 509.78 days for a case to be disposed of, whereas the POCSO Act stipulates that cases should be disposed of within a year. Additionally, it found that “support persons” are not being appointed in most cases, special courts have not been designated in all districts, and there is a lack of Special Public Prosecutors appointed specifically for POCSO cases.
The analysis also highlighted that the proportion of cases disposed of in less than one year has gradually decreased, from over 60% in 2016 to 42.07% in 2018.
Overall, the study pointed out various issues and disparities in the handling of POCSO cases across different states, emphasizing the need for improvement in the judicial process for such sensitive cases.
