Child sexual abuse laws in India have been enacted as part of the

child protection Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...

policies of India. The

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

passed the ''
Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Bill (POCSO), 2011
''' regarding

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

on 22 May 2012, making it an Act.The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012
Kerala Medico-legal Society website A guideline was passed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, India. The rules formulated by the government in accordance with the law had also been notified on the November 2012 and the law had become ready for implementation. There have been many calls for more stringent laws. India has one of the largest population of

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

in the world. Census data from 2011 shows that India has a population of 472 million children below the age of eighteen. Protection of children by the state is guaranteed to Indian citizens by an expansive reading of Article 21 of the Indian constitution, and also mandated given India's status as signatory to the UN

Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Con ...

Laws Before the 2012 legislation was passed

Goa Children's Act, 2003, was the only specific piece of child abuse legislation before the 2012 Act. Child sexual abuse was prosecuted under the following sections of

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established in ...

: * I.P.C. (1860) 375-

Rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

* I.P.C. (1860) 354- Outraging the

modesty Modesty, sometimes known as demureness, is a mode of dress and deportment which intends to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. The word "modesty" comes from the Latin word ''wikt:modestus, modestus'' which means "keeping within ...

of a woman * I.P.C. (1860) 377- Unnatural offences However, the IPC could not effectively protect the child due to various loopholes like:
IPC 375
does not protect male victims or anyone from sexual acts of penetration other than "traditional" peno-vaginal intercourse. *
IPC 354
lacks a statutory definition of "

". It carries a weak penalty and is a compoundable offence. Further, it does not protect the "modesty" of a male child. *
IPC 377
does not define the term "unnatural offences". It only applies to victims penetrated by their attacker's sex act, and is not designed to criminalise sexual abuse of children.

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012

Offences under the Act

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012
was enacted to provide a robust legal framework for the protection of children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography, while safeguarding the interest of the child at every stage of the judicial process. The framing of the Act seeks to put children first by making it easy to use by including mechanisms for child-friendly reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences through designated Special Courts. The New POCSO Act provides for a variety of offences under which an accused can be punished. It recognises forms of penetration other than penile-vaginal penetration and criminalises acts of immodesty against children too. Offences under the act include: * Penetrative Sexual Assault: Insertion of penis/object/another body part in child's vagina/urethra/anus/mouth, or asking the child to do so with them or some other person * Sexual Assault: When a person touches the child, or makes the child touch them or someone else * Sexual Harassment: passing sexually coloured remark, sexual gesture/noise, repeatedly following, flashing, etc. * Child Pornography * Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault/ Aggravated Sexual Assault The act is gender-neutral for both children and for the accused. With respect to pornography, the Act criminalises watching or collection of pornographic content involving children also. The Act makes abetment(encouragement) of child sexual abuse an offence. After the 2019 amendment act, the POCSO Act punishment is even stricter. A violation of the POCSO Act carries a maximum punishment of

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

and a fine.

Child-friendly process

It also provides for various procedural reforms, making the tiring process of trial in India considerably easier for children. The Act has been criticised as its provisions seem to criminalise consensual sexual intercourse between two people below the age of 18. The 2001 version of the Bill did not punish consensual sexual activity if one or both partners were above 16 years. A Victim of Child Sexual Abuse can file a complaint at any time irrespective of his/her present age.

Child Welfare Committee

A sexually abused child is considered as "child in need of care and protection" under

Juvenile Justice A juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes that are committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal s ...

(Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Police officer should therefore inform the Child Welfare Committee about every case under the Act within 24 hours. CWC can appoint a support person for the child who will be responsible for psycho-social well-being of the child. This support person will also liaise with the police, and keep the child and child's family informed about progress in the case. Reporting can be done through toll free number 1098.

Contention around implementation of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act

Definition of child

The Act defines a child as a person under the age of 18 years. However, this definition is a purely biological one, and does not take into account people who live with intellectual and psycho-social disability. A recent case in SC had been filed where a woman, whose biological age was 38 years but her mental age was 6 years, was raped. The victim's advocate argued that "failure to consider the mental age will be an attack on the very purpose of act." SC held that the Parliament has felt it appropriate that the definition of the term “age” by chronological age or biological age to be the safest yardstick, rather than referring to a person having mental retardation. The court said while awarding maximum compensation to a rape victim who is 38 years old with a mental maturity of 6 to 8 years but rejecting the plea that the victim's age should be taken not just in physical terms, but also take into account her mental age as well. The victim suffered from cerebral palsy.

Contradiction with the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act was passed to strengthen legal provisions for the protection of children below 18 years of age from sexual abuse and exploitation. Under this Act, if any girl under 18 is seeking abortion the service provider is compelled to register a complaint of sexual assault with the police. However, under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, it is not mandatory to report the identity of the person seeking an abortion. Consequently, service providers are hesitant to provide abortion services to girls under 18.

Mandatory Reporting

According to the Act, every crime of child sexual abuse should be reported. If a person who has information of any abuse fails to report, they may face imprisonment up to six months or may be fined or both. Many child rights and women rights organisations have criticised this provision. According to experts, this provision takes away agency of choice from children. There may be many survivors who do not want to go through the trauma of criminal justice system, but this provision does not differentiate. Furthermore, mandatory reporting may also hinder access to medical aid, and psycho-social intervention. It contradicts the right to confidentiality for access to medical, and psychological care.

Legal Aid

Section 40 of the Act allows victims to access legal aid. However, that is subject to Code of Criminal Procedure. In other words, the lawyer representing a child can only assist the Public Prosecutor, and file written final arguments if the judge permits. Thus, the interest of the victim often go unrepresented.

Criminalisation of consensual relationships

The law presumes that all sexual acts with children under the age of 18 is a sexual offence, this also includes sexual acts where both the individuals are under the age of 18. Therefore, two adolescents who engage in consensual sexual act will also be punished under this law, this coupled with the need for mandatory reporting has led to the criminalisation of consensual relationships between adolescents. This is especially a concern where an adolescent is in relationship with someone from different caste, or religion. Parents have filed cases under this Act to 'punish' relationships they do not approve of. In a 2015 analysis of 142 sexual assault cases in sessions courts of Mumbai, police were found misusing the act in 33 cases, by classifying women who were 18 years old as being between 15 and 18 years of age in their FIRs, in order to criminalise consenting relationships at the request of the parents of the girl.

Landmark Judgments under POCSO Act, 2012

Supreme Court of India

* Sakshi v. Union of India * Independent Thought v. Union of India * Attorney General for India v. Satish and another (2021) * Alakh Alok Srivastava v. Union of India and Others (2018)

Cases in News

* Delta Meghwal rape case *

2017 Unnao Rape Case The Unnao rape case refers to the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl on 4 June 2017 in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, India. On 16 December 2019, former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted for the rape on 20 December 2019 and sentenced to life impris ...

* 2021 Sexual Assault Rulings by (then) Judge

Pushpa Virendra Ganediwala Pushpa Virendra Ganediwala (born 11 March 1969) is an Indian lawyer. She was previously an Judge, additional judge of the Bombay High Court, but resigned in 2022, after the Supreme Court of India took the unusual step of refusing to confirm her ...

2014 Badaun gang rape allegations On 27 May 2014, a gang rape and murder of two teenage girls was reported in the Katra village of Budaun district (also spelled as Badayun), Uttar Pradesh, India. It was widely reported in the press in India as well as overseas. After an exten ...

Muzaffarpur shelter case Muzaffarpur Shelter Home Rape case refers to a shelter home that ran under a non-governmental organization called "''Sewa Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti''" at Muzaffarpur, Bihar, where cases of sexual abuse, rape and torture were reported. In a medic ...

Kathua rape case The Kathua rape case involved the abduction, gang rape, and murder of an 8-year-old Muslim girl, Asifa Bano, by six men and a juvenile, in January 2018 in the Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, India. A chargesheet for the case ...

Aug 2022 Shivamurthy Murgughashri Sharanaru case Aug or AUG may refer to: *An abbreviation of August, the eighth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar *Augusta State Airport in Augusta, Maine (IATA Code: AUG) *Steyr AUG, an assault rifle *AUG, the most common start codon, the three-nucleoti ...

Organisations working with victims of child sexual abuse

Aarambh India Aarambh India is a non-profit initiative working in Mumbai, India. It focuses on child protection and issues related to child sexual abuse and exploitation. The organization was established in 2012. It partners with other organizations and stakeho ...

Childline India CHILDLINE 1098 is a service of Ministry of Women and Child Development. Childline India Foundation is a non-government organisation (NGO) in India that operates a telephone helpline called Childline, for Children in India, children in distress. It ...

* Tulir NGO
HAQ Centre for child Rights

References

{{Reflist

External links

*
Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Bill, 2011
Child welfare in India

Laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

Sex laws in India Sexual Abuse Laws