Also: Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, POCSO 2012, child sexual abuse law
Definition
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, a gender-neutral law that defines sexual offences against anyone under 18, sets child-friendly procedures for reporting and trial, and prescribes strict punishment.
Before 2012, Indian law had no specific framework for child sexual abuse. Offences against children were prosecuted under general provisions of the Indian Penal Code on rape and "outraging modesty", which did not cover many forms of abuse, applied only to girls in key sections and offered no child-sensitive procedure. A 2007 study by the Ministry of Women and Child Development reported that more than half of children surveyed had faced some form of sexual abuse, drawing attention to the scale of the problem.
India had ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, which requires states to protect children from sexual exploitation. Parliament enacted POCSO in 2012. The law was amended in 2019 after public outrage over brutal cases, raising minimum punishments, introducing the death penalty for aggravated penetrative sexual assault and adding provisions on child sexual abuse material. Child sexual abuse material is now also an offence under the IT Act.
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