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Speedy trial at Special court for POCSO
Why is it in the news?
- A special court for the trial of offences under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, set up in April this year awarded convictions in 18 POCSO cases.
- Among the 18 cases, four were awarded life sentences for their extreme act of abuse.
More in the news
- Followings are some of the instances in which the conviction was awarded by the child-friendly court:An autorickshaw driver in his early 50s was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl from Bownepally.
- In another case, a man who raped his 13-year-old daughter was sentenced to life imprisonment by a child-friendly court at Bharosa centre.
Child Abuse in India
- A centrally-sponsored survey has found that more than 53 per cent children in the country faced one or more forms of sexual abuse
- This menace of child sexual abuse, rape, violence against children, and child trafficking is growing and has become a moral epidemic
- Children are not safe in schools, at home and in public spaces.
- Sadly, in most cases, they don’t speak up under the garb of honour, respect and dignity
POCSO and Child-friendly court
- The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years.
- The Act provides protection to all children under the age of 18 years from the offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography.
- The Act incorporates child friendly procedures for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and trial of offences.
- Thus, the special courts(Child friendly) for the trial of offences under POCSO Act had been set up.
- The state-of-art court has all the required facilities in order to make the child feel comfortable and at ease to speak to the judge and advocates.
- Apart from the innovative and child-friendly court hall, the court comprises special room for the victims with video conference facility and a separate room for the accused.
Source
The Hindu, Indian Express.