POCSO COMMITTEE
(Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, 2012)
Every year, thousands of girls and boys across the Nation face sexual abuse and
exploitation. A child is subjected to sexual abuse or exploitation at home, school
or community. In order to address the brutal crimes of sexual exploitation and
abuse of children, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012
was introduced.
What is POCSO Act, 2012?
The POCSO Act, 2012 is a comprehensive law to provide protection of children
from the offences of sexual assault, pornography and sexual harassment. The Act
defines various forms of sexual abuse which includes penetrative as well as non -
penetrative assault. The Act safeguards the interest of a child below 18 years of
age by incorporating child - friendly mechanisms for reporting and recording of
evidence.
The objectives of POCSO Act, 2012:
Protection of children below 18 years from sexual harassment, sexual
assault and pornography.
Safeguarding the interest of a child at various stages like - reporting,
recording of evidence, investigation and trial of offences.
Providing relief and rehabilitation as soon as the complaint is lodged with
Special Juvenile Police Unit.
Salient features of POCSO Act, 2012:
POCSO Act helps eradicate evils against children; hence it is important to go
through its features:
1. Gender Neutrality: The POCSO Act 2012 regards the best interests and welfare
of both male and female child to ensure the healthy physical, emotional,
intellectual and social development of the child.
2. Defines different forms of sexual abuse: The POCSO Act 2012 defines different
forms of sexual assault to be aggraved under certain circumstances, such as when
the abused child is mentally ill or the abuse is committed by the person in a
position of trust like the police officer, teacher, doctor or a family member.
3. Stringent punishment against child trafficking: People who traffic children for
sexual purposes are punishable under the provisions of POCSO Act 2012. The Act
prescribes the stringent punishment according to the gravity of the offence with a
maximum punishment of lifelong imprisonment and fine.
4. Covers child pornography: POCSO Act 2012 includes visual depiction of sexual
conduct with a child through video, digital, photograph or computer generated
image which might be indistinguishable from an actual child but, appears to depict
a child.
5. Avoid re-victimization of a child: Adequate provisions are made to avoid re-
victimization of the child at the hands of the judicial system. The Act assigns a
policeman to protect a child during the investigation process.
Implementation of POCSO Act 2012
The POCSO Act came into force on November 14, 2012 and it was specifically
formulated to deal with various offences related to child sexual abuse and child
pornography. The Act includes 46 provisions. It increases the scope of reporting
offences against children which were not included under the Indian Penal Code
(IPC). The POCSO Act, 2012 provides procedures for recording the statement of a
child by the court and police in a child friendly manner.
The School has constituted a POCSO Committee, under the protection of Children
against Sexual Offences Act, 2012, to deal with any incident of child abuse inside
the school.
LIST OF MEMBERS OF POCSO COMMITTEE
Chairperson
Ms. Mitali Chatterjee Activity in Charge/Counsellor
Mr. Ashok Tyagi Teacher Representative (Male PGT)
Ms. Nidhi Mathur Teacher Representative (Female PGT)
Ms. Kalpna Raghunathan Member from NGO/Associations
committed to Child Rights Issues
Ms. Aahana Parent’s Representative
Sashant Sagar Jaiswal Student’s Representative (Male)
Vaibhavi Khemka Student’s Representative (Female)
