Will an Amendment to the POCSO Act Ensure Justice?

प्रवक्ता · English edition 23 October 2026 · Hindi original 22 April 2018 · 7 min read

Under immense pressure generated in the wake of the so-called Kathua rape episode, the government promulgated an ordinance amending the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) to introduce even more stringent provisions. Following this amendment, demands for the death penalty in all rape cases have been rising; people are asking, why not the gallows in every single case? Although I personally support capital punishment for heinous crimes, the answers to such questions emerge from what transpired after the Nirbhaya incident. POCSO

Following the Nirbhaya incident, the law was made significantly harsher, but while this severity may not have reduced crime, it led to a massive increase in the misuse of the law. Despite having been in long-standing consensual romantic relationships, rape cases are being registered. The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that in villages and towns, when a police complaint is filed after a mutual brawl between two young men, the women of their respective households file cross-complaints of rape and molestation. On numerous occasions, these laws are deployed for extortion. In such matters, the man is given no hearing; in allegations brought by women, the man is declared a rapist even before an investigation takes place. POCSO

According to the BBC, a survey revealed that most POCSO cases registered in Delhi after 2013–2014 were bogus. If one goes by the 2014 report of the Delhi Commission for Women, 53 percent of rape cases in the year 2013 were false. Rukmini Shrinivasan, a journalist with 'The Hindu', studied rape cases in a court; out of 460 cases, only 12 involved allegations of rape against an unknown person. In more than one-third of these cases, the girl had entered into relations of her own volition, but when the family discovered it, they lodged rape cases to break the relationship. Meanwhile, in one-fourth of the cases, women had registered rape complaints after the man refused marriage following a love affair. POCSO

In July 2018, a Delhi trial court, while acquitting a man in a false rape case, remarked: "False cases are the reason Delhi has been stamped with the tag of 'Rape Capital'." Judge ASJ Virender Bhat observed that following the December 16 gang-rape incident in a moving bus, an atmosphere was created wherein a woman’s mere statement that she had been raped was treated as the unassailable truth, leading to the arrest of the accused and a charge sheet being filed against him. The court noted that reports of acquittals in such cases are barely published. The media turns a blind eye to acquittals in such matters. Meanwhile, those falsely implicated lose their dignity and standing in society, and since this cannot be regained, such victims ought to be compensated for their losses so that they can begin life anew. It is deeply regrettable that the infirm, the sick, and the elderly are not spared from false allegations of rape either. POCSO

This is not the situation in Delhi alone. Such cases exist everywhere—in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh. The state of dowry law is even more terrifying. Under this law, the young man along with his family is thrown into the furnace. Taking a stern view of the misuse of this law, the Supreme Court too stayed immediate arrests. This law has now turned into a business. Thousands of young men commit suicide every year due to the misuse of women-centric laws, but they are never discussed anywhere. If capital punishment is demanded in all rape cases, then women who frame men in fabricated dowry and rape cases should also face hanging or life imprisonment. For now, the POCSO Act has been amended; perhaps rape cases will decrease, but I am certain that fraudulent cases will increase rapidly. I present reports from various sources on this subject for your perusal:

Reports by Various News Agencies: POCSO

Rukmini Shrinivasan, a journalist with the English newspaper 'The Hindu', was transferred from Mumbai to Delhi. Upon arriving in Delhi, she attempted to investigate why Delhi is called the rape capital. She studied 460 cases tried in Delhi courts in 2013. Out of these, only 12 cases involved accusations of rape against an unknown person. More than one-third of the cases involved young individuals who engaged in consensual sex, but when their families discovered it, they lodged rape cases to break the relationship. Many of these involved inter-caste and inter-faith relationships. Meanwhile, one-fourth of the cases were those where the woman registered a rape case after the man refused marriage. Although such cases are not considered rape in many countries, in India one faces rape charges under such circumstances. BBC Hindi

In 2015, the Human Rights Commission received 17,479 complaints of harassment of women, of which they disposed of 14,800 cases because the allegations in the dismissed cases were false: Zee News

In 2013, the court stated that false cases of rape had turned Delhi into the rape capital. The court noted that news of individuals acquitted in these cases is rarely published. Meanwhile, those falsely implicated lose their dignity and standing in society, and since this cannot be regained, the losses of these victims must be compensated so that they can begin a new life. It is deeply regrettable that the infirm, the sick, and the elderly are not spared from false allegations of rape either: Navbharat Times

The UP State Commission for Women states that 99 percent of cases are found to be fraudulent upon investigation—meaning years of incarceration, and one's dignity in society, job, and family all lie shattered. Women who are genuinely subjected to atrocities are indeed someone's sister or daughter, but is the young man trapped in false cases not someone's son or brother? He has no worth, nowhere is he spoken of: Dainik Jagran

Citing 2012 figures, the Supreme Court noted that 197762 people were arrested under the dowry law, one-fourth of whom were mothers and sisters who were thrown into prison along with the husband on false charges: NDTV India

Year after year, the numbers are rising. In a single court in Delhi, out of 460 cases in 2013, only 12 were genuine. That means the lives of 448 young men were ruined. They languished in prison, with neither honor in society nor their jobs left intact. In the very Delhi maligned as the rape capital, 53 percent of the cases in 2013 were false: India Samvad

Haryana Police registered 2715 cases of harassment of women across various police stations in the state during the period from 26 October 2014 to 20 February 2015. Among these, the highest—1024 cases—pertained to dowry harassment. In addition, 621 cases were registered regarding the abduction of women and girls. Furthermore, during this period, 330 cases of rape, 271 cases of molestation of women and young girls, and 169 cases of sexual harassment were registered. During this time, the police found 180 out of the total 1024 complaints of dowry harassment in the state to be false and cancelled the cases. Not only this, out of the total 330 cases of rape—the most highlighted category under crimes against women—32 cases were found to be false. The police dismissed these cases. In addition, the police cancelled 37 cases of molestation during this period. The Home Department clearly recorded in the cases cancelled during this timeframe that they were cancelled due to being found untruthful: Patrika News

Haryana: If one examines police statistics, there has been a sudden surge in false cases of rape and molestation over the past three years. Since 2014, every fourth case of rape and every third case of molestation registered has turned out to be false. In these three years, 174 cases of rape have been registered so far, of which 42 were cancelled; similarly, FIRs were registered in 386 cases of molestation, of which 107 were found to be false: Dainik Bhaskar

- Vishal Maheshwari