It is a fact that Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSOA) is misused many a time and as a result lives of many youths take a wrong turn. Experts on the Act believe that more often than not, the accused are victims of circumstances and that us why they and get to the root of the cases in order to get the them out of the imbroglio.

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Advocate Digajmaan Mishra, who handles POCSOA cases, said, "Young minds are always influenced by the power games which go in jails, and thus our main intention is to reform the youth by forcing them to engage in studies; so that they do not become hard-core criminals after witnessing the conduct of the criminals behind the bars."

Advocate Prakash Salsingekar, who also deals with POCSOA cases, claims: "It is a fact that the time the accused approaches us to defend them before the court of law, they need to tell us the truth, so that we can find out a way to defend them. It is that moment when we realise that in most of the cases men between the age group of 19 and 22 are easily targeted and a complaint under the stringent POCSOA is added against them. Also, the police machinery is very slow and because of the delay caused by the police for their vital investigation, the bail in such cases is delayed. In instances where we realise that the cases are fake, we try to force our clients to get involved in studies, so that they are less attracted to the anti-social elements in jails."

Mishra explains about a case where a 19-year-old was arrested for molestation. "After going through it, I reaslised that the case against him does not appear genuine. To ensure that he doesn't get attracted to the criminal atmosphere in jail, I have told him that if he concentrates on his studies, it will help him to seek bail. Though it is not a ground to get bail, we use this as a tool to ensure that their minds are not diverted."

Advocate Salsingekar added that there are two types of accused, one is a habitual while the other is a victim of circumstance. "Our main aim is to reform the accused who are victims of circumstance," said Salsingekar.