Additional SP cautions boys on Pocso Act

Additional SP A Kanageswari cautioned students especially boys on stringent provisions of Prevention of Child Marriage and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. Distributing prizes to winners at the sports day function of RANM Arts and Science College Erode on Saturday, she said that she was dealing crimes against women and children. Unfortunately, last year alone 130 cases were registered under the Pocso Act and in 8 cases, fathers were culprits, creating fear on what direction our society was going.

In a case 68 year old teacher of Sathy area was held under the Act and convicted. Under the Child Marriage Act,  punishment could be 3 years imprisonment. But, under the Pocso Act, which also deals issues of children below 18 years of age, it could be up-to life sentence or death penalty. Not only physical touching but also double meaning talks, chatting through Whattsapp with interior motive, sending or showing obscene photos with I love you message or keeping photos of a girl  without her or parents consent is an offence. On an average, everyday 1 or 2 girl missing cases were reported and 2 days back, 4 cases were reported in the district .

Love is a common one in this age.  But one should be more cautious about the Act. After both boys and girls become major, none would prevent their love affair as per law. 
Even though a minor girl insisted to marry or ready to elope with boys in the name of love, it should be averted.Otherwise, the boys would alone be convicted under the Act. 
Even if parents or relatives try to hide the issue,  police would get information from any source. As per the Act, those who know the incident should inform police.  

Even if taking a minor girl from her house for a few hours by a boy is an offence as per the Act and parents can lodge complaints about it. So,  the boys must  be more careful and spread the message among public. In this regard, she was holding awareness meetings at colleges  and schools and planned to use NCC and NSS students to create more awareness among  public on the subject, she said. College correspondent KK Balusamy, president  V Rajamanikkam, treasurer Dr A Vijayakumar, trust functionaries Arunkumar, UN Murugesan, BP Manikkam,J Ramachandran, P Ravichandran and Principal Dr A Palaniyappan spoke.