Study on Incidence of POCSO Cases in Mumbai Region

Introduction: Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person without consent. The parliament of India passed the “Protection of children against sexual offences Act, 2012 which provides protection for a variety of offences. Aims: To find out the incidence of Pocso cases with respect to age, sex and relation of victim with assailant in Mumbai region. Methods: The study will be conducted retrospectively on Pocso cases referred to Sir JJ hospital in between January 2015 to January 2017 after taking permission from concerned departments. In our present study, we have taken 200 cases for study purpose. Results: Out of 200 cases, 180 cases were of female while 20 cases were of male showing female preponderance. Majority of victims in sexual assault cases were victimized by persons they knew (67%) and few by Strangers (33%). A minimum age of male and female victim was 03 yrs and 02 yrs respectively while maximum age of male and female victim was 13 years and 18 years respectively. Conclusion: From our present study it can be concluded that crime against children is increasing since last 2 yrs, female child are more affected than male. Most of the assailants are persons in position of trust. In order to decrease sexual assault crime against children there is need of awareness among common people and parents regarding child protection, approach to police without any fear, training sessions for children and teachers regarding bad touch and good touch.