Awareness regarding POCSO Act: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Child sexual abuse occurs in a variety of settings and the POCSO Act, 2012 came into force with effect from November 14, 2012. Objectives: A community-based cross-sectional study to assess the knowledge regarding the POCSO Act among adults in the rural community of Chandigarh was carried out in full compliance with ethical standards provided by the institutional research and ethical committee. Materials and Methods: A nonprobability sampling technique was used to select 190 subjects from Sector 56, Palsora, Chandigarh. Results: This study found that 55.8% have an adequate level of knowledge and 44.2% have an inadequate level of knowledge. Conclusions: The variables heard or seen by a victim of child abuse have only significant associations with the level of knowledge.

Keywords

• adults
• protection of child against sexual offenses act (pocso)
• rural community