Delhi Emerges Among Top Performers as Courts Dispose More POCSO Cases Than Filed

In a landmark moment for child justice in India, courts have cleared more POCSO cases than they received in a single year, and Delhi has emerged at the forefront, recording second highest disposal rate in the country at 178 percent after Chhattisgarh. In 2025, while 1006 cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) were registered, Delhi courts disposed of 1792 cases clearing a major chunk of backlog from previous years. Meanwhile, nationally 80,320 child sexual abuse cases were filed while 87,754 were disposed of in 2025, achieving a disposal rate of 109 percent, according to report “Pendency to Protection: Achieving the Tipping Point to Justice for Child Victims of Sexual Abuse” by Centre for Legal Action and Behaviour Change (C-LAB) for Children, an initiative by India Child Protection. Notably, 24 states also recorded disposal rates above 100 percent. The report recommends setting up 600 additional e-POCSO courts to end the entire backlog of POCSO cases within four years.

Often tarnished by the ‘tareek pe tareek’ image, India’s backlog of POCSO cases stood at 2,62,089 as of 2023. But with this new shift when the disposals surpassed registrations, the report states that the country has reached the tipping point “where the justice system begins to move from managing backlog to actively reducing it.” The report recommends allocating INR 1977 crore for additional 600 e-POCSO courts for a period of four years to completely end pendency, for which Nirbhaya Fund can be utilized as well.

The report further highlights a few worrying gaps such as inter-state disparities in disposal rates, fluctuating conviction rate and that nearly half of pending cases remain unresolved for over two years. For instance, in Delhi 54 percent of the pending cases have been pending for 6-10 years, 9 percent for 5 years, 10 percent for 4 years, 13 percent for 3 years and remaining 14 percent for 2 years.

These figures reflect cases that entered the system several years ago but have not seen meaningful progress. “This suggests that pendency begins to accumulate early in the lifecycle of a case and that the system faces challenges in moving cases forward within the expected time frame,” the report said.

Highlighting the broader implications of the data in a wider justice context, Purujit Praharaj, Director (Research), India Child Protection, said, “India is now at a tipping point in its response to child sexual abuse. When the system begins to dispose of more POCSO cases than it registers, it moves from intent to impact. Our research consistently shows that prolonged delays intensify trauma for child survivors. Sustaining this momentum is essential if timely, child-centred justice is to become the norm rather than the exception.” India Child Protection is partner of Just Rights for Children which is the largest network of NGOs with over 250 NGO partners working in 451 districts across the country for child protection and child rights.

The report also recommends maintaining a year-on-year disposal rate of over 100 percent in every state/UT, providing technical and administrative support to state judiciaries lagging behind and meticulous monitoring of conviction and acquittal rates. The report also recommends the use of AI-powered legal research tools and document management systems to facilitate efficient case analysis and document retrieval.

Among states, seven states and Union Territories logged a disposal rate of over 150 percent, other seven have a disposal rate between 121-150 percent while 10 states achieved a disposal rate between 100-120 percent. These 24 states, therefore, are not only disposing of cases registered in 2025 but also managed to clear some of the previous years’ cases.

The report is based on the data (as of 2nd December, 2025) drawn and analysed from National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and Lok Sabha questions and answers.