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India crossed a much-publicised milestone successful 2025 — accelerated way peculiar courts cleared much kid intersexual offence cases than registered that twelvemonth nether the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. They recorded a 109% disposal complaint and closed 87,754 cases against the 80,320 registered.
Commentaries person hailed this arsenic a turning constituent successful the combat against kid intersexual abuse, by suggesting that courts person yet breached the backlog. However, caller information and tract reports constituent to a antithetic tipping constituent wherever disposals emergence but convictions autumn and thousands of children stay stuck successful agelong trials with small support.
The POCSO Act, passed successful 2012, was designed arsenic a peculiar instrumentality due to the fact that earlier provisions connected rape and molestation nether the Indian Penal Code and women’s extortion laws failed to recognise the peculiar quality of offences against children. POCSO promised child-friendly procedures, time-bound trials and a strategy that would spot and perceive children otherwise from big survivors.
More courts but convictions autumn short
India present runs 773 accelerated way peculiar courts, 400 of them designated for POCSO cases. Fast way peculiar courts started successful October 2019 with ₹1,952 crore from the Nirbhaya Fund aft orders by the Supreme Court of India. And these courts cleared 3,50,685 cases by September 2025. These courts grip 9.51 cases a period compared to 3.26 successful regular courts. Even so, convictions and kid enactment inactive autumn short.
Convictions person really gone down from 35% backmost successful 2019 to 29% crossed the state by 2023. If we instrumentality the baseline fig of 35% successful 2019, a 90% disposal complaint successful 2023 would mean that condemnation should person risen to 45%. But it is 29% instead, which is 16 points little and 36% abbreviated of what should beryllium expected. The bottommost enactment is that clearing cases faster means weaker convictions, not amended justice. Fast way courts mean conscionable 19%. In a fig of States, determination are much accused walking escaped than being enactment down bars. Tens of thousands of cases resistance connected for years.
Children who attest successful POCSO cases person peculiar needs that spell beyond speedy hearings and ceremonial compliance with the law. They necessitate trained enactment persons, delicate constabulary and lawyers, and kid payment committees that tin unafraid compensation and attraction portion the proceedings is ongoing, not years later. When these protections stay connected paper, higher disposal rates coexist with fragile convictions, bladed reparations and children who permission the strategy much harmed than healed.
But the inclination reveals a darker information (Table):
Faster trials person not meant fairer verdicts. Investigations stay hurried, complaint sheets enactment incomplete and forensic reports are delayed, particularly successful overcrowded courts crossed Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The enforcement spread besides extends to enactment persons appointed nether Section 39 of the POCSO Act, mandated by the Supreme Court successful 2021 successful each cases, and elaborate successful the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights 2024 guidelines. The enactment persons usher children done the agelong and analyzable justice-seeking process but arsenic respective States person inactive to empanel them, this results successful cases collapsing pre-trial. Practical fixes exist. Right to Information (RTI)-based tracking of enactment persons, strict lab-report deadlines, lawsuit bundling for older files and quarterly condemnation audits to absorption attraction connected anemic States. In Madhya Pradesh, peculiar courts that sped up forensics and grounds person secured convictions wherever akin cases elsewhere failed.
PLVs, the missing archetypal enactment of defence
The Supreme Court, successful December 2025, directed para-legal volunteers (PLV) to beryllium appointed astatine each constabulary presumption for POCSO cases. The presumption study highlights gaps. Andhra Pradesh, for instance, has PLVs successful 42 of 919 stations, portion Tamil Nadu has nary crossed 1,577. Without PLVs, families locomotion into constabulary stations alone, scared, pressured and ignored. In the Unnao rape lawsuit (Uttar Pradesh), respective quality reports pointed to the archetypal reluctance by the constabulary to registry the case, arsenic it sat connected her archetypal accusation study (FIR) for a fewer weeks portion threatening her household to driblet it. In Lalitpur (Uttar Pradesh) successful 2022, a 13-year-old gang-rape subsister was assaulted again astatine the constabulary presumption and the FIR was registered lone aft the involution of a non-governmental organisation. The beingness of a PLV could person stopped the threats, ensured the filing of the FIR the aforesaid time and extortion of the grounds and the family.
There person been occasions erstwhile courts person acquitted the accused erstwhile they offered to wed the survivors erstwhile they turned adult. The higher judiciary has fto disconnected convicts citing ‘happy marriage’ contempt Section 6 convictions against the perpetrator. Such rulings propulsion susceptible girls into life-long ties with their abusers.
Courts tin bid interim compensation astatine immoderate stage, peculiarly wherever schooling oregon wellness is astatine risk, but astir similar to hold for last verdicts. By past the harm done to a child’s acquisition and household income is often irreversible. Many survivors person the archetypal instalment years aft a judgment, which has seen High Courts pulling up ineligible assistance authorities repeatedly for delays. The Vidhi Centre notes that successful specified instances, these payments suffer their purpose.
Marginalised families get wealth for question and lawyers. And they often walk much connected endurance than what authorities alleviation provides. Daily wage families suffer enactment for hearings and mothers permission jobs successful bid to be court. Speed without enactment leaves children much breached than justness served.
Rahul Verma is simply a sociologist and autarkic researcher who writes connected education, labour and societal inequality successful India
