Delhi: In 5 years, over half the POCSO cases resulted in acquittals

Delhi’s district courts have been confronted with worrying statistics that echo a national trend. According to a Delhi High Court datasheet, across the capital’s exclusive Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act courts, 294 out of 519 cases ended in acquittals, while only 202 resulted in convictions between September 17, 2019, and July 31, 2025. Three cases were quashed at the outset.

This means acquittals accounted for 56.6% of the outcomes, making them more common than convictions. Although quashed cases form a small number, they also represent instances where the accused avoided imprisonment altogether.

Case pendency and disposal rates

Of the 519 cases under the POCSO Act pending for over five years, lower courts in Delhi resolved 508, as per High Court data. The East, North, Northwest, Shahdara, South, and West districts have cleared all such long-pending cases, while the Central, New Delhi, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest districts still have a handful left.

A 2023 study by the India Child Protection Fund estimated that, at prevailing rates, Delhi courts would take 27 years to clear the backlog of POCSO cases. The study, Justice Awaits: An Analysis of the Efficacy of Justice Delivery Mechanisms in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse in India, noted that POCSO courts dispose of an average of only 28 cases annually.

Recent figures, however, show improvement. Delhi’s courts have disposed of an average of 102 cases per year — 3.6 times the national average. On average, around 650 cases are registered annually under exclusive POCSO courts in the capital.

Fast Track Special Courts, established in 2019 to handle sexual offence cases exclusively, aimed to complete trials within a year. More than 1,000 such courts exist across the country today. Yet, a November 2022 study, A Decade of POCSO by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, highlighted that Delhi courts take an average of 1,373 days — nearly four years — to convict.

Survivors and activists raise concerns

The high acquittal rate has left survivors and activists deeply worried. Archanaa Agnihotri, Director of Samadhan Abhiyan, said the reasons are varied — from ineligible testimony and poorly conserved DNA samples to withdrawn cases, misuse of the law, and even bribery.

“While some cases just do not hold enough water in the court of law, other cases mostly result in an acquittal owing to a lot of issues that affect the basic progress of a trial,” she said. According to her, trauma often causes survivors to deviate from earlier statements, weakening the prosecution.

Agnihotri also pointed to systemic failures. “Cops treat these cases as usual criminal cases, irrespective of the extraordinary circumstances involving children. This often leads to DNA samples not being collected properly, even though biological samples only survive for 72 hours. Similarly, there are instances of the accused intimidating survivors and their families, which leads to changes in initial statements. Bribery is also fairly prevalent, especially in other states,” she said.

She further highlighted the misuse of the Act in cases of disapproved relationships. “There are a lot of issues regarding parents not liking the lover of their daughter or son — might be a caste issue or just disliking the person. Thus, they use the Act to serve their purpose,” she said.

Trial delays and their impact

The consequences of prolonged cases are devastating for survivors. A senior counsellor with an NGO, requesting anonymity, said: “We have counsellors at hand to guide survivors through the process, but the entire period of grieving is extremely difficult. Children of a certain age often fail to recognise when something wrong has occurred. Fear, shame, or intimidation may also silence them.”

Despite improvements in disposal rates, such delays have an everlasting impact on children’s mental health, particularly in cases of rape.

Case studies: conviction and acquittal

On December 16, 2019, a 14-year-old girl reported that she had been inappropriately touched by a man named Armaan near her home in Nihal Vihar. The mother lodged a complaint, and the police arrested the accused. The Trial Court convicted Armaan in December 2024 under Sections 354/354A IPC and Section 8 POCSO Act, sentencing him to four years’ rigorous imprisonment and a Rs 10,000 fine in January 2025.

His counsel challenged the conviction, arguing that the victim’s age was not proved beyond reasonable doubt and highlighting inconsistencies in statements. The Delhi High Court, however, upheld the conviction, though it reduced the sentence to the statutory minimum of three years.

By contrast, in another case from 2014, a 17-year-old girl went missing with a 19-year-old boy. Her parents filed a complaint, but she later testified the relationship was consensual. The trial court acquitted the boy in 2020, a decision upheld by the Delhi High Court in January 2025. Justice Jasmeet Singh wrote: “Love is a fundamental human experience, and adolescents should have the right to form emotional bonds. The law must evolve to respect consensual relationships free from coercion.”

The debate on adolescent relationships

Courts are increasingly adopting a lenient approach in “romantic cases.” The POCSO Act, enacted in 2012 to curb child sexual abuse, carries severe penalties with the burden of proof on the accused. But critics argue it has the unintended effect of criminalising adolescent love.

This debate reached the Supreme Court in July 2025, during a PIL on sexual crimes. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, serving as amicus curiae, suggested reducing the age of consent to 16 and introducing close-in-age exemptions for relationships between 16- and 18-year-olds. The government opposed the idea, warning it could weaken protections and increase trafficking.

Experts see patterns of misuse. Enakshi Ganguly, co-founder of HAQ Centre of Child Rights, said the Act has boosted reporting of child sexual abuse but also criminalises adolescent relationships. “Disapproving parents often file complaints, clogging courts with ‘love cases’ that divert attention from actual violence,” she said.

Also Read: Delhi tops crime charts among metros, vulnerable groups hit hardest

A 2022 study by Enfold India, which analysed 1,715 “romantic cases” across Assam, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, found that in over 80% of cases, parents or relatives were the informants. Nearly 88% of girls admitted to a romantic relationship with the accused, and in 81.5% of cases, the girl’s testimony did not incriminate him.

Towards reform

With more than half of Delhi’s POCSO cases ending in acquittals, the debate over reforming the law is intensifying. Advocates argue for judicial discretion and “Romeo and Juliet clauses” to prevent consensual relationships from being penalised. The government, however, insists the age of consent must remain at 18 to safeguard minors.

Between systemic delays, high acquittals, and questions over misuse, Delhi’s POCSO courts reflect the complexities of balancing child protection with adolescent rights — and the urgent need for reforms that ensure both justice and compassion.