POCSO § 35
Definition
The Indian Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 provision requiring Special Courts to record a child's evidence within 30 days of taking cognizance, with examination conducted in a child-friendly atmosphere in the presence of the child's trusted adult.
- Statute
- POCSO Act 2012, Section 35 (India)
- Deadline
- Record child's evidence within 30 days of cognizance
- Setting required
- Child-friendly atmosphere
- Support person
- Child's trusted adult present
Common questions
What happens if a Special Court cannot meet the 30-day deadline?+
The section requires the court to record reasons for the delay, since the timeline is meant to minimize the trauma of repeated recollection and reduce the risk of a young witness's memory or willingness to testify degrading over time.
Why does the law specify a trusted adult's presence during recording?+
A familiar, supportive adult reduces the child's distress and the likelihood of the child freezing or withdrawing during questioning, while the framework still requires the adult not to prompt or influence the child's answers.
Related terms
- Achieving Best Evidence (ABE)
- UK guidance (most recent revision 2022) on interviewing vulnerable witnesses including children. Embedded within the YJCEA 1999 special measures framework; ABE interviews...
- Acquiescence Bias
- The tendency to agree with questions regardless of their content, elevated in young children and persons with intellectual disabilities. A major source...
- Cognitive Interview (CI)
- An evidence-based interview technique developed by Fisher and Geiselman that uses memory-enhancement strategies including mental reinstatement of context, free recall, temporal variation,...
- Intermediary
- A communication specialist (YJCEA 1999 s 29) who attends an ABE interview and trial to ensure that questions are put to vulnerable...
- Interrogative Suggestibility
- The measurable tendency of an individual to accept misleading suggestions and change responses under pressure, assessed by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales (GSS-1,...
- NICHD Protocol
- A structured child investigative interview protocol developed by Michael Lamb and colleagues, with an extended rapport and narrative-practice phase followed by a...
- Special Measures (YJCEA 1999)
- Provisions under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 allowing vulnerable witnesses (including all children in sexual or violent cases) to...