Overview
- This week judges in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala and West Bengal issued heavy sentences in POCSO cases, with several convictions carrying 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and one Tirur fast‑track court giving a total of 47 years.
- A Faridabad court relied on a hidden‑phone video and the victim’s testimony to sentence a father to 20 years, and the verdict included multiple additional IPC and Arms Act penalties.
- Courts routinely paired long custodial terms with monetary orders, imposing fines on convicts and directing payment of victim compensation under state schemes.
- Prosecutors built cases with large evidence packages—dozens of witnesses and many documents in some trials—and judges convicted under specific POCSO provisions and related IPC sections such as Section 376.
- Many perpetrators were known to the victims, including relatives or acquaintances, a pattern that highlighted the role of covert evidence, fast‑track POCSO courts and victim compensation orders in securing convictions and offering redress.