UP topped the list with 6, 898 cases...
As many as 47,221 sexual abuse cases were lodged in the year 2020 under the protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The conviction rate for these cases was just 39.6%, the government informed in the Lok Sabha session on Friday. Almost half a lakh cases were registered, and the conviction rate was less than 40%.
Union Minister for women and child development Smriti Irani provided state-wise data collated by the National Crime Records Bureau as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP S Venkatesan’s query on pending cases under the act requested. In the cases recorded in 2020 under the POSCO act, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 6,898 registered cases followed by Maharashtra with 5,687 cases and then Madhya Pradesh with 5,648 cases.
According to the data provided, Uttar Pradesh had the second highest conviction rate of 70.7% whereas the figures in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh were comparatively low with 30.9% and 37.2% respectively. However, Manipur outstood all the states/union territories with a conviction rate of 100% for three consecutive years.
Smriti Irani also stated that by the end of 2020, more than 170,000 cases were pending a trial, which accounts for 57.4% more than those in 2018 (108,129).
The Union Minister said, “The department of justice is implementing a scheme for setting up of 1,023 fast track special courts (FTSCs) including 389 exclusive Pocso courts for expeditious trial and disposal of cases related to rape and the Pocso Act in furtherance to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018.”
Irani informed, that in 2022, 892 FTSCs were active whereas in 2021 898 were.
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