The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 (POCSO Act)

A twelve-year-old tells her class teacher that a relative has been touching her. Before 2012 the police would have reached for a handful of Indian Penal Code sections written for adult women, and many acts against boys had no name in law at all. The teacher now has a legal duty to report, the police cannot question the girl in uniform or at the station, and the trial cannot put her face to face with the accused. Who designed those safeguards, and what happens if the teacher stays silent? The POCSO Act answers both.

In two minutes

The POCSO Act 2012 is a gender-neutral, child-specific code that defines sexual offences against anyone under eighteen, makes reporting mandatory, prescribes child-friendly recording of statements, and sends trials to Special Courts that presume guilt once the prosecution establishes the basic facts.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Criminal Procedure Code 1973, Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and POCSO Act 2012 on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.