Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has said that a victim of Child Sexual Abuse can file a complaint at any time irrespective of his or her present age. She urged the victims to report the cases through POCSO e-Box.
The Minister said, often, children are unable to report such crimes as the perpetrator in most cases is either a family member, a relative or closely known person. She said, studies have also shown that the child continues to carry the trauma of sexual abuse till very late in life.
In order to overcome this trauma many grown up people have started coming out to report the abuse faced by them as children. According to an official release, the Ministry had recently consulted the Law Ministry which advised that there appears no period of limitation mentioned in the provision with regard to reporting of the offences under the POCSO Act, 2012.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), Act 2012, came into force in November 2012. It is a gender neutral Act which has been enacted to strengthen the legal provisions for the protection of children from sexual abuse and exploitation.
The Protection Act defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years and provides protection to children from the offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography.
