In a first, more child sexual abuse cases in a year were disposed of than registered in India, marking a tipping point in tackling the long-standing judicial backlog under the Protection of Children from Sexual Abuse (POCSO) Act, as per a latest report.
The report, titled ‘Pendency to Protection: Achieving the Tipping Point to Justice for Child Victims of Sexual Abuse’, by the Centre for Legal Action and Behaviour Change (C-LAB) for Children, an initiative of India Child Protection, courts across the country disposed of 87,754 POCSO cases in 2025 against 80,320 new registrations. This pushed the national disposal rate to 109%.
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The report notes that 24 States and Union Territories recorded disposal rates above 100%, enabling them to clear not only fresh cases but also a portion of older pending matters. Seven States and Union Territories achieved disposal rates exceeding 150%, while another seven recorded rates between 121 and 150%. Ten States posted rates in the range of 100 to 120%.
Despite the progress, the report flags persistent structural concerns. India’s POCSO backlog stood at 2,62,089 cases until 2023, and nearly half of all pending cases continue to remain unresolved for more than two years. Conviction rates show wide fluctuations, and sharp inter-State disparities remain entrenched.
