An Overview on POCSO Act

The speaker for the webinar on the topic - Overview of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) was Mr. D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, Advocate , High Court of Tamil Nadu. The session was attended by about 70 students . The student coordinator started off the session by giving an introduction of the speaker. The session started with an  overview of POCSO Act. The speaker discussed the provisions of the Act and POCSO rules. The session was made interesting with live examples and the practical aspects. He showed some of the statements recorded from the victims and explained the procedure on how the statement is recorded by the police, child welfare committee, medical officer and the Magistrate. He also pointed out some criticisms which he felt that could be amended because according to the act, the victim has to record statements under various authorities which is traumatising for the victim to go over again and again. The speaker explained about the various types of offences mentioned under the act such as Penetrative assault, Aggravated penetrative assault, Sexual assault, Aggravated sexual assault, Sexual harrassment and aggravated sexual harassment. The punishment prescribed under the Act, conflicts in the provisions of IPC AND POCSO, criteria for determining the age of the person based on Juvenile Justice Act were also discussed. The  session was concluded  with a thank you note by  Inian the student coordinator .