Join Vidhi for an in-person launch of the report, ‘A Decade of POCSO: Developments, Challenges and Insights from Judicial Data.’ The event will take place in hybrid mode on 17 November 2022 (Thursday) from 6 – 8 pm, atLecture Room 1, India International Centre Annexe, New Delhi.

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 came into force on 14 November, 2012. One of the main objectives of this legislation was to establish Special Courts to try sexual offences involving children in a child friendly manner. Ten years is a good time to look back and reflect on the challenges that the implementation of this law has faced and suggest corrective measures.

In this report, Justice, Access and Lowering Delays in India (JALDI) at Vidhi and the Data Evidence for Justice Reform (DE JURE) program at the World Bank have analysed nearly 400,000 cases from eCourts across 28 states and union territories, interviewed stakeholders, and studied judgments in a select sample of cases. The findings of this report show how different districts across the country have been performing, and the pendency and disposal patterns that follow.

A Decade of POCSO studies the performance of the different states and districts, the challenges faced in accessing data for our analysis, the time taken at different stages of a POCSO case and the delay in overall disposal of POCSO cases, and more, with clear recommendations on the way forward. Data driven studies like ours add objectivity to the assessment of the performance of a law that addresses a sensitive and critical issue in a larger culture of silence. 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

• JUSTICE INDIRA BANERJEE, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India

PANELISTS:

• DR. JUSTICE SHALINI S. PHANSALKAR-JOSHI, Former Judge, Bombay High Court,
•  PROF. DR. ASHA BAJPAI,  Former Professor of Law and Founding Dean, School of Law, TISS,
• ANANT KUMAR ASTHANA, Child Rights Lawyer,
• DEVENDRA DAMLE, Public Policy Researcher.

MODERATOR:

• DEEPIKA KINHAL, Lead, JALDI, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.