Overview
- Courts across several states issued major POCSO verdicts in mid‑October 2026, including repeated 20‑year terms, a 47‑year sentence in Kerala, and a Malegaon fast‑track court handing a death sentence for the rape and murder of a four‑year‑old.
- Judges cited large witness lists, medical and forensic reports, and digital recordings such as hidden‑phone videos and CCTV as decisive evidence in multiple convictions.
- Courts routinely ordered fines and directed state victim‑compensation payments to survivors or families, with some fines convertible into extra prison time if unpaid.
- Prosecutors and police used fast‑track POCSO courts and expedited chargesheets in several cases, with the Malegaon chargesheet filed within weeks and the trial completed in about 10 months.
- A separate Aligarh incident has prompted family allegations of police mishandling after viral CCTV showed a minor being molested and the suspect was reportedly released without a POCSO or BNS FIR, raising enforcement and accountability concerns.