POCSO, 2019 / 2012

The Ministry of Women and Child Development championed the introduction of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 which was amended in 2019 to comprehensively deal with the issue of sexual offences against children..

The law empowers an NC (non-cognisable complaint) to be filed by the victim, family members, a trusted adult, or any support person on behalf of the minor. Failure to report is a punishable offence, with imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine, or both. (Section 21, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012)

To support the ecosystem in executing this mandate, BBS allows for:

1. Open discovery of licensed child therapists and registered child-NGOs who can help file a case on behlf of the child in case the child's immediate family is not willing or able. This is especially useful since majority of the sexual abuse cases against minors happen by someone known to them [source]

2. Pan-India eFilling of cases so that children do not have to go through the ordeal of visiting a police station. In some cases, such as shelter homes, or when the child's immediate family is the abuser, or when the support person is from another location, or when the resources (financial, transport, knowledge) are not available, it may not even be possible for a child to be physically taken to a police station to file a case. In these cases, eFilliing can help bring their duress to the courts to immediately address them.