A Socio Legal study of Child Abuse in India with special reference to POCSO Act 2012

Abstract

This study is primarily focused on exploring various dimensions of child sexual abuse (CSA) for ensuring justice. India introduced the POCSO Act, 2012 to protect children from sexual assaults, sexual harassment and pornography and enabled special provisions such as the establishment of the Special Courts for speedy trials of these crimes. The term rape has been avoided and substituted by the phrase penetrative sexual assault to annul social stigma. The legal procedures have been made child friendly, the privacy rights of the minor victims have been secured, and the courts are to presume culpable mental state on the part of the accused. In this research endeavour, efforts have been put forth to review a plethora of court judgments related to CSA cases to evaluate the execution of various provisions of the special enactment and their impact on the delivery of justice. newlineThe three-pronged objectives of the study include: (i) To study the response of the criminal justice system to CSA cases. (ii) To understand the implementation and impact of the POCSO Act, 2012, and (iii) To identify strategies to strengthen justice by using legal provisions. newlineThe findings of this research have coalesced into recommendations for different sectors having a critical role in the administration of justice. newline