Are kids offenders in pocso

Abuse or Assault? 

Hello ma'am, my understanding of your question is whether a child of age 12years be liable for conviction if he/she has abused another child. Ma'am with relation to this let me give you an idea that the POSCO act was made to protect children from such s*xual abuses and harassment. But when it comes to the conviction of 12-year-olds we need to look into IPC. As per sec 83 of IPC,  Nothing is an offense which is done by a child above seven years of age and under twelve, who has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge of the nature and consequences of his conduct on that occasion. So, ma'am, a 12-year-old can be convicted but such juvenile offences are mostly read with Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. Juvenile Justice is a legal framework which defines justice for a juvenile under the Indian Legal System.  The system is giving special treatment and protection to juvenile delinquency. Juvenile Delinquency means a crime committed by youth who is under the age of 18 years. At present, everyone knows that there is an increasing rate of juvenile crimes and this increasing rate is creating a debatable issue of age determination. Age determination is considered as one of the most important factors to determine the maturity level of the accused. The increasing crime rate is raising a question that whether the juvenile can be tried as an adult or not? The act itself answer to the question that no juvenile offender who comes under the definition of a child with conflict with the law as defined under subsection 13 of  Section 2 of the Act shall not be tried as an adult and shall be sent to Child Care Centre or any Rehabilitation Centre (till the offender attain the age of 21 years and then he or she may be shifted to the jail or prison). 

I hope I was able to answer your question. 

Regards,

Samayeta

Hello,

The POSCO act was enacted with the objective to protecting children from s*xual abuses and harassment and not with the objective of prosecuting them.

And yes a 12 year old can be prosecuted under the Juvenile Justice system, which deals with crimes committed by minors(below 18 years of age).

Thank you