Pocso cases rise, but conviction down

Chennai: As many as five children face sexual abuse every day, but the conviction rate is an abysmal two per cent. According to the data submitted by the home ministry in Lok Sabha recently based on the information from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), of the 1,583 Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) cases registered in 2016, only 214 persons have been convicted and the data reveal that the condition had been the same for the past three years.

While the country recorded 35,955 cases last year, Tamil Nadu stood eighth with 1,583 cases as against 1,544 cases in 2015 and 1,065 cases in 2014.
Talking about the reasons behind the huge gap between the number of cases registered and persons convicted, M. Andrew Sesuraj, child rights activist, said, “80 per cent of child sexual crimes are committed by close acquaintances. So, people who register the complaint in the heat of the moment go through emotional pressure and they retract the complaint.”

 

He further added that Pocso mandates the magistrate to record video of the victim while registering the complaint so that it can be used as strong evidence and so that the victim need not go through the agony numerous times. But, it is seldom followed. Another issue is with the vague filing of the chargesheet, which often has loopholes.

Another activist and founder of Aware, NGO, Sandhiyan Thilagavathy alleged that Pocso is not child-friendly and that it is gender biased.

“Even if the girl intentionally did the act and later complained of sexual abuse, the entire prosecution will be turned towards the guy. Also, we have poor legal systems to back up. As per Pocso, only female police in mufti can collect the information and that rarely happens,” he said, adding the absence of child counsellors at police stations is another issue to be addressed.

Suggesting measures for effective use of Pocso, child rights activists suggest that schoolteachers, parents and children must be sensitized on the importance of reporting the sexual abuse, as the culprit would continue to sexually harass the victim till he is exposed.