Update : POSCO Act

The Government of India has approved new amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) act.

What is the POSCO Act?

• The POSCO act has been affected to more effectively address any heinous crimes (primarily the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation) perpetrated against children.
• The POSCO Act has been pushed forward by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD).
• The POSCO Act which was passed in 2012 aims to deal with the crimes through less ambiguous and with more stringent legal provisions.
• It defines a child as anyone below the age of 18 and has also defined the various different forms of sexual abuse (including assault). It has defined the conditions when an assault is considered an “aggravated assault”.
• It had defined stringent punishments graded as per their gravity of the offense, with an earlier maximum of rigorous imprisonment for life, and fines.

What are the amendments?

The POSCO act now includes the death penalty for sexual assault against minors. It now also provides for fines and imprisonment for possession of child pornography.

The Government expects that the changes made will act as a deterrent to child sexual abuse.