Ahmedabad, June 23: While the government has made the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 stringent and lays emphasis on ensuring that children are protected from sexual abuse, the conviction rate in cases registered under the POCSO Act in Gujarat was just two per cent from 2017 to 2020, totally defeating the purpose of this act.
In Gujarat from January 2017 to December 2020 totally, 6908 cases were registered under POCSO Act. Out of these, a charge sheet was filed in 6598 cases against 8558 persons. But in only 145 cases there was a conviction where 172 accused persons were convicted. This means that in four years, the conviction rate was just 2.19 per cent while the number of persons convicted was just two per cent.
Commenting on the low conviction rates in POCSO cases, Director General of Police, in charge of Women Cell of the Crime Branch, Anil Pratham said, "We are doing many things to improve conviction rates. These include sensitisation of district police, setting up of a high-level committee of state to supervise POCSO cases since December 2019 where we expect conviction rates to improve and we are taking the help of NGOs and individuals to sensitise people about the POCSO Act. Also, in many cases victim and accused families go for out of court settlements which results in low convictions."
Conviction rates in POCSO cases in Gujarat was dismal in the previous years. This percentage is an improvement from the previous three years from 2014 to 2016 when the conviction rate was just 0.57 per cent. In three years from 2014 to 2016, a total of 3630 cases were filed under POCSO Act out of which a charge sheet was filed in 3146 cases. However, cases that resulted in conviction were just in 18 cases where 19 persons were convicted. But as many as 4201 persons were charge-sheeted, which means only 0.45 per cent of people charged under POCSO Act were convicted.
Table of status of cases registered under POCSO Act in Gujarat
There was a noticeable improvement in 2017 when the conviction rose to 3.8 per cent with 3.5 per cent of persons getting convicted. So, 1481 cases were registered under POCSO Act in 2017, of which in 1409 cases charge-sheet was filed in court against 1837 persons. Out of these, in only 54 cases there was a conviction against 65 people while three cases are still under investigation. This means that 1772 persons were acquitted and there was conviction in only 3.83 cases and only 3.5 percentage of persons were convicted.
But since then, the conviction rates have been steadily declining. In 2018, the conviction rate was 2.7 per cent which reduced to 2.04 per cent in 2019 and finally in 2020 there was conviction in just 0.4 per cent of cases. However, it should be noted that courts were closed for long periods in 2020 due to the lockdown and Covid 19 pandemic and many of the cases have not been heard in the court which could be the reason for low conviction rates in 2020, at least.
Commenting on the low conviction rates in Gujarat and measures to improve the conviction rate, Prita Jha, founder of Peace and Equality Cell (PEC), an NGO working to provide legal and other aid to survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence, said, "Conviction rate is low everywhere in POCSO cases. A couple of reasons for the low conviction are there is a lot of delay in cases being tried and there many cases that are not POCSO cases but are adolescent romantic cases where families often reach out of court settlements. What needs to improve is investigation and support for survivors and witnesses by families and lawyers so they can give their best evidence in courts."
It should be noted that it is stipulated in the act that cases should be investigated, charge-sheeted and tried in the courts in one year but many cases have been pending long after one year is over and Supreme Court has made an observation of the same. Three cases are still under investigation from those registered in 2017, while 16 cases are still under investigation from cases registered in 2019.
In Gujarat, the government has set up a total of 75 special courts under the POCSO Act as well as special Fast Track Courts for Rape cases in 2019 and four additional courts were set up in Ahmedabad and two more in Surat. So as per the 2019 Annual Report of Gujarat High Court, there were 81 Special POCSO Courts in Gujarat by the end of December 2019.