Around 10,000 POCSO cases still under trial in Karnataka: Report

At least 50 per cent of the 20,000 cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in Karnataka are still under trial, according to a report by The Times of India.

Among the cases in which trials have been completed, only one-fifth have led to a conviction.

Since the POCSO Act was introduced in 2012, a total of 20,010 cases have been registered under the same in Karnataka. Among these, 49.7 per cent or 9,940 cases are still awaiting trials, the publication reported. Out of the total cases that have been filed in the state under the POCSO Act, 385 have been classified as false while 94 remain undetected.

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ADGP (crime) R Hitendra told the publication that the police are "completing investigations swiftly" and have submitted the chargesheets timely in many such cases. However, he refused to elaborate further owing to ongoing investigations. According to the report, around 30 to 40 per cent of cases saw charge sheets being filed on time a couple of years ago. However, that metric has now improved to 60 per cent.

Among all the POCSO cases that have not been closed yet, 1,918 (which is around 20 per cent of the total) were registered in 2017 or before. Moreover, 799 cases (most of which are from 2022) remain under investigation.

Among the cases in which trials have been completed, only 1,277 have seen convictions. The number of cases in which the accused has been acquitted or those that have been dismissed comes to 6,766.

According to experts, a number of cases have been registered in instances where underage couples have had consensual sex. Trials in such cases have led to acquitals. In this regard, in November 2022, the Karnataka High Court had proposed to the Law Commission of India to reconsider the age of consent in regards to the Pocsco Act.

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The judgement by the division bench read, "Having come across cases relating to minor girls above 16 years having fallen in love and eloped and in the meantime, having had sexual intercourse with the boy, we are of the considered opinion that the Law Commission of India would have to rethink on the age criteria, so as to take into consideration the ground realities."

Praveen Sood, DG & IGP, has however revealed that POCSO cases have been registered as per the current law. However, he agress that the age of consent issue needs to be dealt with.