‘Form child protection panels, hold campaigns’: Delhi LG reviews implementation of POCSO Act in city
Asking authorities to declare July as the ‘child protection month’, the LG said every school should have a Child Protection Committee that would hold regular meetings. He also directed authorities to hold child protection campaigns and submit reports on the outcome to him.
Over a month after Delhi emerged as the metropolitan city with the highest number of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) cases in the country, Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu reviewed the implementation status of the POCSO Act across the Capital on Wednesday, along with the Commissioner of Police; Secretary, Women and Child Development; and Director, Education department.
Asking authorities to declare July as the ‘child protection month’, the LG said every school should have a Child Protection Committee that would hold regular meetings. He also directed authorities to hold child protection campaigns and submit reports on the outcome to him.
Advertisement
The Education department has been asked to enforce compliance of POCSO Act norms and initiate action against defaulters and submit a report on the same.
He pinned his hopes on all-women police stations regarding “proper implementation” of the POCSO Act. These police stations would soon start to cater exclusively to complaints of crime against women and children.
He also asked Delhi Police to ensure visible deployment of personnel around school premises and prominent student hubs. He stressed that police presence must be intensified particularly during school dispersal hours.
Advertisement
The Education Department has also been instructed to enforce strict compliance and initiate firm action against institutions found lacking in the implementation of these critical measures. Furthermore, he directed that a detailed report must be provided on the exact actions that have been taken, or are planned to be taken, against the defaulters.
Delhi saw over 7,662 cases of crime against children in 2024, slightly lower than 7,731 in 2023. The number, however, was still higher than all metros in India. In only 31.7 per cent of these cases, chargesheets were filed — again the lowest in the country.
Out of the 7,662 cases, 1,553 (20.26 per cent) were filed under the POCSO Act. And of these 1,553, in 1,038 cases, sections of penetrative sexual assault were invoked.
Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu 
Share
