POCSO e-Box
POCSO e-Box
The Ministry of Women and Child Development has proposed the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) e-Box to protect children from sexual harassment. e-Box is an online complaint box for reporting child sexual abuse against the offenders under the POCSO Act. In this article, we look at the POCSO e-Box in detail.
POCSO Act
POCSO Act was passed by the Government of India to protect children from offences of sexual harassment, sexual assault and pornography by incorporating child-friendly mechanisms such as recording, reporting of evidence, inquiry, investigation and speedy trial of crimes through special courts.
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Features of POCSO e-Box
The salient features of the POCSO e-Box are listed below:
- POCSO e-Box is an initiative of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), for direct online complaint filing of child sexual abuse.
- The POCSO e-Box is incorporated in the page of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) portal.
- E-Box is simple to operate and will help to maintain the confidentiality of the complainant.
- The user can register a complaint by selecting the category of harassment.
- Also, the user needs to fill the form with details such as email, mobile number and description of the harassment to register a complaint.
- All the complaints filed by the user gets assigned automatically by the system to the respective Nodal Officer.
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POCSO Activities
Under the POCSO Act, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) performs the following activities:
- To monitor the states on the implementation status of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
- To monitor States on the implementation of victim compensation schemes.
- To seek details of cases registered with the Child Welfare Committees (CWC) under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
- Circulations on basic informative documents among the State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs):
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- Advisory to Police
- Child-Friendly Procedures for implementing Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012
- Child Victim Charter
- Pamphlet on POCSO
- Guidelines for responding to CSA (child sexual abuse) Complaints.
- Preparation of Guidelines with lawyers and UNICEF:
- Guidelines to Special Prosecutors
- Guidelines to Police
- Guidelines to Child Welfare Committees (CWC)
- Guidelines to Special Courts and
- Guidelines to Health professionals.
- Preparation of IEC material
- Review of IEC material for preventing child sexual abuse which is prepared by NGOs and State Government initiated to identify best practices and to disseminate the same among other States.
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Procedure for Online Complaint Registration
To register a complaint under the POCSO e-Box portal, follow the steps mentioned below:
Step 1: The applicant needs to access the official portal of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
Step 2: Click on “POSCO e-Box” button which is on the homepage of the portal to register your complaint.
Step 3: Then, the applicant will be navigated to a page with the picture options. The pictures have various captions which include a shop, playground, road, school tuition, blackmail, school bus, vans, family members, relatives, others, Internet and phone.
Step 4: Now, the applicant has to select the respective option from the picture.
Step 5: After selecting the respective option, then the applicant has to fill the form with details such as email, mobile number and description of the harassment and click on the ‘submit’ button.
Step 6: The complaint is then registered, and a unique auto-generated complaint number will be generated.
Note: Also, the complaints can be registered in person or by post, messenger or any other means to NCPCR office. Once receiving the e-complaint from a parent or the child, NCPCR officials will take cognisance of the matter and will address the complaints in a highly confidential manner.
Cyber Crimes against Children
Child victims of cybercrimes can register their complaints at the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) ‘s POCSO e-box. Considering the growing menace of cybercrimes targeting children, NCPCR has now enhanced the scope of POCSO e-box to handle cyberbullying, cyberstalking, child pornography and morphing of images.
Child victims or their parents, relatives, friends or guardians can report cyber crimes by pressing the e-box button available at the Commission’s website. Also, they can register their complaints on the following possibilities:
- Email id: [email protected]
- Mobile no.: 9868235077.
Download POCSO e-Box App
Also, the Government has launched the mobile app for registering of complaints through mobile phones. Each complaint will be given with a unique reference number after the submission of complaints.
