MP High Court Takes Suo Moto Action On POCSO Act Awareness, Implementation

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Expressing concern over the increasing crimes against children, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has initiated a suo moto writ petition to assess the implementation and awareness of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Rusia noted a substantial rise in crimes under the POCSO Act attributing the trend to a lack of public awareness about its provisions.

The court highlighted the critical role of Sections 43 and 44 of the Act, which mandate wide publicity and periodic training for better implementation of the law.

“Section 43 of the POCSO Act casts a duty upon the Central Government and every State Government to take every measure to ensure that the provisions of this Act are given wide publicity through media including the television, radio and print media at regular intervals to make the general public, children as well as their parents and guardians aware of the provisions of this Act.”

“It further provides that the concerned persons including the police officers are imparted periodic training on the matters relating to the implementation of the provisions of the Act. Section 44 provides monitoring of the implementation of the POCSO Act by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights,” the court observed.

With these observations, the court said, “Therefore, we are taking this matter suomotu in order to enquire from the Central Government as well as the State Government of Madhya Pradesh as to what steps have been taken under Sections 43 and 44 regarding the implementation of the POCSO Act and the rules made there under.”

The court issued notices to the respondents seeking their reply as to what steps have been taken by them to control the offences under Sections 43 and 44 of the Act, 2012.