The primary purpose of Section 25 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 is to:

Section 25(1) requires the Magistrate to record the child's statement "as spoken by the child", and its proviso excludes the accused's advocate, so the aim is to preserve the child's own version without distortion. Cross-examination happens only at trial, under section 33, and the one-year target for completing the trial is set by section 35, not section 25.