Booming Acquittals in POSCO Cases: Backdrop in its Interpretation and Implementation

The bruises may heal but traumas and scars will remain forever, the scars which they got even before they start their life… Starting from the Ghanashyam Misra case where a young girl of 10 years was brutally raped by a 39 year old man to the recent case of Puducherry where a 9 year old girl was brutally murdered, children of our county are becoming most vulnerable citizens of child abuse. There were some provisions in IPC against sexual offences but it was generalized in nature and did not effectively provide remedy for the child victims. In order to effectively address such issues, the POCSO Act, 2012 was enacted and amended in 2019. The ultimate aim of the Act is to protect children from sexual offences and to establish special courts for speedy trial. Even after a decade of its enactment, there is a steep increase in the reporting of Child abuse cases, one main reason behind it is the increased number of acquittals than conviction impeding justice to the victim and also pushing him or her into never ending trauma. Court has enumerated various reasons for the acquittal, most of the time the acquittal was a consequence of improper investigation or hostile witnesses whose veracity is lost after changing sides. This Article aims to find out the reasons behind the rise in acquittals under POCSO Act, the various interpretations made by court in providing such acquittals and few suggestions to reduce the number of improper acquittals.