POCSO Act, 2012
The POCSO Rules, 2020: Overview, and the Rules of 2012 Compared
The Act creates rights and obligations; the Rules make them work. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Rules, 2020, notified on 9 March 2020 under Section 45 of the Act, replaced the Rules of 2012. The change was more than a renumbering. The 2012 Rules were almost wholly reactive, dealing with what happens after an offence. The 2020 Rules add a preventive layer, give the Child Welfare Committee a central place, and provide for the child's immediate needs before any compensation is paid. These notes take the Rules one by one and then compare the two sets.
The thirteen Rules at a glance, with the three new ones marked
1. The Rules at a Glance
Rule | Subject | What it provides |
|---|---|---|
1 and 2 | Title and definitions | Commencement; definitions of the support person, special educator, expert, District Child Protection Unit and the person familiar with the child's manner of communication |
3 | Awareness and capacity building | Age-appropriate educational material, periodic training of personnel, police verification of staff in institutions dealing with children, and a child protection policy |
4 | Care and protection | The police report to the Child Welfare Committee within twenty-four hours; the Committee assesses the child's needs and may provide a support person |
5 | Interpreters, translators, special educators and experts | Their qualifications, how they are engaged, and the fees payable to them |
6 | Medical aid and care | Emergency medical care, not conditional on a first information report or any legal formality, and without charge |
7 | Legal aid and assistance | Legal aid to the child and the family through the legal services authority |
8 | Special relief | Immediate payment for essential needs such as food, clothing and transport, on the direction of the Child Welfare Committee |
9 | Compensation | Interim compensation at any stage and final compensation on disposal, with the factors the Special Court must weigh and a time limit for payment |
10 | Fine | The procedure for imposing a fine and ensuring its payment to the child |
11 | Reporting of pornographic material | How a person in possession of material involving a child must report it, to the police or the cybercrime portal, consistently with Section 15 |
12 | Monitoring | Monitoring of implementation by the National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights |
13 | Repeal | Repeal of the POCSO Rules, 2012, with a saving for things done under them |
2. Rule 3: Prevention as a Duty
§ The preventive layer the 2020 Rules introduced • Age-appropriate education. The Central and State Governments are to prepare material informing children about personal safety, including their physical and virtual identity, emotional and mental wellbeing, and how to seek help. • Training. Periodic training of police personnel, forensic experts, medical officers, teachers and others who deal with children, on the Act and on handling a child victim. • Police verification of staff. An institution housing children or coming into regular contact with them, including schools, creches and sports academies, is to ensure periodic police verification and background checks of every staff member. • A child protection policy. The State Government is to formulate a child protection policy based on zero tolerance of violence against children, to be adopted by institutions working with children. |
3. Rules 4 to 8: The Child's Immediate Needs
§ The Child Welfare Committee at the centre Rule 4. On receiving a report, the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police must report the matter to the Child Welfare Committee within twenty-four hours, indicating whether the child is in need of care and protection. The Committee then decides what the child needs, which may include placing the child in a shelter, and may provide a support person to assist the child through the investigation and trial. The support person is someone assigned to render assistance to the child, and may be a person working in child rights, an official of a children's home, or another person the Committee considers suitable. The child and the family are to be kept informed and consulted. Rule 6. A child who needs emergency medical care receives it without any requirement of a first information report, a certificate, or any other legal formality, and without charge. A hospital or doctor may not refuse on those grounds. Rule 8: special relief. Where the child needs immediate help for food, clothing, transport or other essentials, the Committee may recommend an immediate payment, and it is to be made promptly. This is separate from, and earlier than, compensation. |
4. Rule 9: Compensation
§ How compensation works • The source of the power. Section 33(8) of the Act empowers the Special Court, in appropriate cases, to direct payment of compensation for physical or mental trauma, or for immediate rehabilitation. • Interim compensation. The Special Court may, on its own or on an application, direct interim compensation at any stage after registration of the FIR, to meet the child's needs for relief or rehabilitation. • Final compensation. On disposal of the case, whether by conviction or acquittal, or where the accused is not traced or identified, the court may award compensation where the child has suffered loss or injury. • The factors. The Rules list what the court weighs, including the nature of the offence and its severity, the physical and mental harm, the expenses of medical treatment, loss of education and employment, the relationship between the child and the offender, whether the abuse was a single incident or repeated, whether the child became pregnant or contracted a disease, and the child's financial condition. • Payment. The State Government pays from the victim compensation fund within a fixed period of the order, and the compensation is in addition to any other relief. |
5. Rule 11: Reporting Pornographic Material
§ The procedural counterpart to Section 15(1) Section 15(1), as recast in 2019, punishes a person who stores or possesses pornographic material involving a child and fails to delete, destroy or report it, with an intention to share or transmit it. Rule 11 supplies the route for reporting. A person who receives such material, or knows that it is being stored, possessed, distributed or circulated, is to report it to the Special Juvenile Police Unit, the police, or the cybercrime portal, with details of the device or source where known. The report must not itself spread the material. The reporting person is to provide information about where the material is, not to forward it. The consequence. A person who comes across such material and reports it through Rule 11 is not within Section 15(1), which is directed at those who retain it without doing so. |
6. The 2012 Rules and the 2020 Rules Compared
Subject | POCSO Rules, 2012 | POCSO Rules, 2020 |
|---|---|---|
Overall orientation | Reactive: what happens after an offence has been committed | Preventive and reactive: prevention, response and rehabilitation |
Awareness and training | No provision | RULE 3: age-appropriate education, periodic training and awareness |
Police verification of staff | No provision | Required for institutions housing or regularly in contact with children |
Child protection policy | No provision | The State to formulate a policy based on zero tolerance |
Care and protection | Provided for | Strengthened: report to the Child Welfare Committee within twenty-four hours, and a support person |
Emergency medical care | Provided for | Expressly not conditional on an FIR or any legal formality |
Special relief | No provision | RULE 8: immediate payment for essential needs |
Compensation | Interim and final compensation | Detailed factors, extended to cases where the accused is acquitted or not traced, and a time limit for payment |
Pornographic material | No reporting route | RULE 11: reporting to the police or the cybercrime portal |
Monitoring | Limited | A defined role for the National and State Commissions |
§ A way to remember the three new rules Rules 3, 8 and 11: Prevent, Relieve, Report. Rule 3 prevents, through education, training, verification and policy. Rule 8 relieves, through immediate help before any compensation. Rule 11 reports, giving the route that the recast Section 15 requires. |
7. Landmark Points
- The POCSO Rules, 2020 were notified on 9 March 2020 under Section 45, superseding the Rules of 2012.
- Rule 3. Awareness, training, police verification of staff, and a child protection policy based on zero tolerance.
- Rule 4. Report to the Child Welfare Committee within twenty-four hours, and a support person for the child.
- Rule 6. Emergency medical care not conditional on an FIR or any legal formality, and without charge.
- Rule 8. Special relief for immediate needs, separate from compensation.
- Rule 9 with Section 33(8). Interim compensation at any stage, and final compensation even where the accused is acquitted or not traced.
- Rule 11. Reporting of pornographic material involving a child to the police or the cybercrime portal.
- Rule 12. Monitoring by the National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights.
8. Frequently Asked Questions
When were the POCSO Rules, 2020 notified?
On 9 March 2020, under Section 45 of the Act. They superseded the POCSO Rules, 2012.
What is the main difference between the 2012 and 2020 Rules?
The 2012 Rules were almost wholly reactive. The 2020 Rules add a preventive layer, through awareness, training, police verification of staff and a child protection policy, and add special relief and a reporting route for pornographic material.
What must the police do on receiving a report?
Under Rule 4, report the matter to the Child Welfare Committee within twenty-four hours, indicating whether the child is in need of care and protection, so that the Committee can decide on the child's care and the provision of a support person.
Can a hospital refuse emergency treatment until an FIR is registered?
No. Rule 6 requires emergency medical care to be provided without any requirement of a first information report, a certificate or any other legal formality, and without charge.
What is special relief under Rule 8?
An immediate payment, recommended by the Child Welfare Committee, for the child's essential needs such as food, clothing and transport. It is separate from, and earlier than, compensation.
Can compensation be awarded if the accused is acquitted?
Yes. Under Rule 9, final compensation may be awarded on disposal of the case where the child has suffered loss or injury, whether the accused is convicted or acquitted, and also where the accused is not traced or identified.
How is pornographic material involving a child to be reported?
Under Rule 11, to the Special Juvenile Police Unit, the police or the cybercrime portal, with details of the source where known. The person reporting must not forward the material in doing so.
9. Related Topics in This POCSO Series
- The POCSO (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the POCSO Rules, 2020
- Nature and Scheme of the POCSO Act, and Important Definitions
- The POCSO Act and the New Criminal Codes
- The POCSO Act, the Child Marriage Act and the Juvenile Justice Act