Maharashtra: Commission calls for review of POCSO Act

The MSCPCR said there are loose ends at the implementation and execution levels

The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) chief has called for a review of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at the departmental level, citing a 600 per cent rise in cybercrimes against children and a rise in complaints involving child rights violations after the pandemic.

The decision was taken during the three days of MSCPCR meetings held between May 16 and May 18. According to MSCPCR Chairperson Susieben Shah, there are several loose ends in the state's execution of Acts intended to protect children's rights.

Talking to mid-day, Shah said, "There are many stakeholders involved in various departments and agencies that work for the protection of child rights, including the police department, home department and district child protection units, among others. Through this review, we want to see if these departments are working in tandem." According to Shah, the commission is looking to identify why there is a 600 per cent rise in cybercrime against children, along with increasing complaints of child marriage and missing children, especially after the pandemic. "There definitely seem to be some loose ends at the implementation and execution level," she said.

Also Read: Maharashtra: Crimes against women in state tripled in 5 years

Susieben Shah, chairperson, MSCPCR

"The idea is to make the state and its policies more child-friendly. We want to see if child rights are the focus of this government and will be framing questionnaires for the review. This will help understand how people are working and what difficulties they are facing in the implementation and execution of child rights policies. We will then send recommendations to the state government and also demand action, along with an action taken report," she added.

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), in Maharashtra, 308 POCSO cases reached conviction, out of 1,027 cases in which the trial was completed in 2020. At the end of January 2022, a total of two 26,728 POCSO cases were pending trial in the country, of which 30,677 cases were from Maharashtra, the NRCB data for 2022 revealed.

Between 2019 and 2021, there has been a continuous increase in victims of child marriage in Maharashtra. The number has increased from 20 in 2019 to 82 in 2021, as per National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data.

According to the office of the special inspector general of police (prevention of crime against women and children), there were 16,836 crimes against children registered in 2022-23 (financial year), as stated in the state economic survey for the period. Crimes classified as kidnapping were the highest, up from 7,392 in 2020 and 9,555 in 2021, to 9,594 in 2022.

Following this, there were 3,266 cases of child rape in 2022, as compared to 2,785 in 2020 and 3,458 in 2021. There were 364 incidents of minors being murdered between 2021 and 2022, while cases of newborns being abandoned, infanticide and foeticide stood at 302, 24, and 21, respectively.

Apart from deciding on an outline for the planned review meetings regarding the POCSO Act, the MSCPCR meetings also saw detailed discussions on organising ‘Child Adalat' at the divisional level. The MSCPCR also recommended that the best-performing child rights government system be honoured on the occasion of Children's Day.

"We are also looking at holding a comprehensive review meeting for the RTE (Right to Education) Act soon. There have been many cases of violation of the RTE Act coming to the fore. The majority of these are from Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Aurangabad. Hence a review will be planned. We want to ensure that these laws and policies accomplish the goals for which they were brought into effect," Shah said.

16,836
No. of crimes against children in 2022-23