A new report indicates a significant rise in reported sexual offences against children in India, but also highlights strong prosecution rates and detection systems.
Bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra have been suspended following attacks on buses and their crew. The decision was taken given the tension prevailing in the border district of Belagavi over a sensitive issue. The language row began after a group of people allegedly intercepted a KSRTC bus and assaulted its conductor and driver for not speaking to a passenger in Marathi. The passenger, a minor girl, also filed a complaint stating that the conductor misbehaved with her. However, the family of the minor girl has decided to withdraw the case and urged people to stop escalating the matter into a language dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra.
In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on Monday held that watching and downloading child pornography are offences under the POCSO Act and the information technology law.
The commission, in its report submitted to the law ministry, said the amendments are necessary as such cases do not merit to be dealt with the same severity as the cases that were ideally imagined to fall under the POCSO Act.
The father of a rape survivor has appealed to the Supreme Court to cancel the bail granted to Asaram, citing threats and concerns for his family's safety.
Police in Palghar, Maharashtra, have registered a case against five individuals involved in the marriage of a 16-year-old minor tribal girl. The case involves charges of rape, human trafficking, harassment, and violations of the POCSO Act, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
A 14-year-old girl from Maharashtra's Palghar district has alleged that she was forcibly married to a man, sexually assaulted and made to undergo an abortion, police said on Tuesday.
A four-year-old girl has allegedly been sexually assaulted at a well-known school in Mumbai, leading to the arrest of a female staffer, police said.
Nine people, including two government employees, have been arrested from Kasaragod district in Kerala for allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy after befriending him on a mobile app for the LGBTQ community, police said on Tuesday.
Police sources said the girl's mother had, in the past, lodged over 50 complaints against various people including the then Bengaluru Police Commissioner Alok Kumar, and his staff, for allegedly manhandling her and abusing her.
The high court said the psychological impact on a POCSO case victim being present in court during the arguments is grave.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Manmohan also expressed its dissatisfaction with the affidavit filed by the Delhi government regarding what it has done so far on appointment of special prosecutors.
The court said that the accused "inserted this metallic rod inside the private parts of the deceased so mercilessly that even the flesh/ body part separating vagina and anus also got torn." Further, the doctor had also opined that the injuries were sufficient to cause death, the court said.
The convicted person, who sexually assaulted a minor girl in 2015, was sentenced to 10 years of rigourous imprisonment by a Special Judge at Eluru in West Godavari district in 2016, including a penalty of Rs 5,000 levied on him.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader B S Yediyurappa, facing a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act charge, returned to Bengaluru on Saturday and said he will appear before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on June 17 for questioning.
A 35-year-old woman teacher was arrested for allegedly making an obscene video call to a minor male student on a social media platform in Navi Mumbai.
"Consensual sex has been in legal grey area because the consent given by minor cannot be said to be a valid consent in the eyes of law. The short question which arises is as to whether the petitioner (man) should be granted bail or not," the Delhi HC said.
According to the FIR, the girl, aged 17 years and seven months, was full-term pregnant and had been "sexually assaulted" by an unidentified person about nine months ago.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for November 12 to address the statutory age of consent for adolescents, emphasizing the need for a continuous and comprehensive examination of the issue. The Centre defends the current age of consent, while an amicus curiae suggests lowering it.
The accused boy and the 9-year-girl, who allegedly abetted the crime, have been detained and sent to a juvenile remand home.
Two teenage male friends, one of them a minor, have allegedly been stripped and forced to indulge in unnatural sex by some persons over non-payment of money in Mumbai, police said on Tuesday.
Though the incident occurred on July 3 evening, it came to the fore after the victim filed a complaint at Jajpur town police station on Monday, the police said.
The intention behind POCSO Act is to protect children from sexual exploitation but it was never meant to criminalise consensual romantic relationships between young adults, the Delhi high court has said.
A sessions court in Indore has acquitted a bangle seller from a minority community, accused of molesting a minor girl, noting that the prosecution failed to establish its case even by 'leshmatra' (an iota).
Any sexual act includes inappropriate touching, forcible disrobing, indecent gestures or remarks made with an intent to insult the modesty of a woman, a bench of Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke said in the order passed on Monday.
The teenage girl was sexually assaulted and three women were robbed of gold ornaments by two motorbike-borne unidentified persons when the victims were travelling in a car in the wee hours of Monday on a highway in Daund in Pune district, a police official said.
IPL side Royal Challengers Bengaluru's under-fire pacer Yash Dayal has been accused of raping a minor in an FIR registered against him by Jaipur Police.
A teacher accused of sexually assaulting a minor student claims he expressed his love for her and addressed her as his wife. She alleges the case is fabricated by the boy's mother.
According to the police, the minor was gang-raped several times by her mother's boyfriend and his aide, both of whom are in their thirties, in Haridwar, Agra and Vrindavan between January and March this year.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has brought back Salman Rehman Khan, an alleged member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, from Rwanda. Khan was wanted by the NIA for terror-related offences in Bengaluru. He was traced to Rwanda and returned to India on November 28, 2024. The return of Khan comes after similar operations in coordination with Interpol, where two other accused were brought back from Saudi Arabia.
A businessman in Kerala has released CCTV footage allegedly showing police officers assaulting restaurant employees in custody. The businessman claims the incident occurred in May 2023 and that his attempts to seek justice have been met with resistance.
The police arrested the accused on Thursday and booked him under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, an official said.
A woman accused the India hockey player of sexually abusing her multiple times when she was a minor.
According to the police, the survivor played a crucial role in exposing her alleged abusers by saving their phone numbers and documenting their details, all vital evidence in the case.
The minor was rescued after the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar police, in a joint operation with NGOs Exodus Road India Foundation and Harmony Foundation, raided a flat in Naigaon in Vasai in Palghar on July 26, the official said.
Delhi police arrest 13 individuals, including minors, for the murder and sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy, allegedly in retaliation for informing on a rival gang member.
A Class 10 student allegedly raped his eight-year-old neighbour in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, police said on Saturday.
The horrific crime, which resulted in the girl becoming pregnant, came to light on June 9 after she filed a complaint recently.
A teacher has been arrested for allegedly sexually harassing 24 girl students at a government school in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, officials said on Monday.
The girl went to the boy's house in the afternoon to play when the accused lured her with a chocolate and raped her.
