The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed recently by both Houses of Parliament with an objective of stopping the rampant sexual abuse of children. The bill seeks to provide more stringent punishment, including death penalty, for sexual crimes against children.

Body:

Key changes proposed:

• Penetrative sexual assault: The bill increases minimum punishment for this offence from 7 years to 10 years. It also provides for with imprisonment between 20 years to life, with fine if person commits penetrative sexual assault on child below age of 16 years.
• Aggravated penetrative sexual assault: The Bill adds two more grounds to definition of aggravated penetrative sexual assault. These include: (i) assault resulting in death of child and (ii) assault committed during natural calamity or in any similar situations of violence. It also increases minimum punishment from 10 years to 20 years, and maximum punishment to death penalty.
• Aggravated sexual assault: The Bill adds two more offences to definition of aggravated sexual assault. These include: (i) assault committed during natural calamity and (ii) administrating or help in administering any chemical substance or any hormone to child for the purpose of attaining early sexual maturity.
• Child Pornography: The Bill defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct that involves child such as photograph, video, digital or even computer generated image indistinguishable from actual child. It also enhances punishments for certain offences related to child pornography.
• Storage of pornographic material: It increases punishment for storage of pornographic material with imprisonment between three to five years, or fine, or both. In addition, it also adds two other offences for storage of pornographic material involving children. These include: (i) transmitting, displaying, distributing such material except for the purpose of reporting it and (ii) failing to destroy or delete or report pornographic material involving child.

Positives:

• The amendment is expected to discourage the trend of child sexual abuse by acting as a deterrent due to strong penal provisions incorporated in the Act.
• It intends to protect the interest of vulnerable children in times of distress and ensures their safety and dignity.
• The amendment is aimed to establish clarity regarding the aspects of child abuse and punishment thereof.
• It is gender-neutral and thus looks into the sexual assault of both minor boys and girls.

Challenges:

• Lack of social awareness among the masses.
• Children find it difficult to understand many advertisements and campaigns related to abuses.
• There is advancement of law but it appears that it has no impact because the number of cases is multiplying.
• Problem with implementation of the law.
• Child protection committees not in place at village level.
• Politicization of rape cases on communal grounds.
• The rate of conviction under the POSCO act is only 32% as that of past 5 years and pendency is 90%.
• Absence of proper training at village level leads to child abuse.
• Judges don’t use the power to announce medical interim compensations to the victims.
• In a 2017 report, “Everyone Blames Me,” Human Rights Watch found that survivors (of the crime), particularly among marginalized communities, still find it difficult to register police complaints.
• Every case desires media attention equally and not only Unnao and Kathua rape cases.

 Way Forward:

• Problems related to implementation of POCSO Act such as lack of adequate special courts, lack of sensitization for investigators and prosecutors in dealing with child victims, poor rate of convictions etc. need to be resolved urgently.
• The Supreme Court direction to set up special courts within 60 days of the order in each district having more than 100 pending cases under the act must be complied with urgently.
• The provision of death penalty should be widely discussed and debated and should be used only for the rarest of the rare cases.
• Massive awareness and sensitization should be created among the masses about child’s dignity and about the law in place.
• There needs to be an overhaul of the criminal justice system in the country rather than emphasising on the death penalty.
• POSCO Act needs to be part of school syllabus.
• Proper police training and a dedicated children cell at stations as that of a women cell.
• Many Indians – men and women – refuse to believe that sexual violence is a serious problem eating away at India’s vitals. It is essential to recognise that the crisis lies in the precise manner in which the existing criminal justice system unfolds.
• Instant medical relief and compensations should be provided to the victim.
• Children should be given a platform and proper environment to speak against such abuse.
• Check on technology.
• Strict action must be taken against the police officer found guilty of obstructing the probe or colluding with perpetrators of such cases.
• Providing sex education to children, which is neglected in India. This makes them more aware of various protective laws, good touch-bad touch etc.

Conclusion:

Society itself will have to take the responsibility of giving it the right direction. Without this, we cannot achieve all the promise that we had as a nation at the time of Independence. We must collectively rise to the occasion and create a safe India for our children.