CURRENT AFFAIRS
POCSO : AND ONE FOR THE FUTURE GENERATION
In 2014, UNICEF study, "hidden in plain sight,"
estimated that around 120 million girls under
the age of 20 (about 1 in every 10) have been
subjected to forced sexual intercourse or
other forced sexual acts at some point in their
life.
Most children and families do not report cases of
abuse and exploration because of stigma, fear and
lack of trust in the authorities. Social tolerance and
lack of awareness also contributes to under reporting.
Evidence show that sexual violence can have serious
short and long term physical, psychological and
social consequences not only for boys or girls but
also for their families and communities.
This includes increased risk of illness, unwanted
pregnancy, psychological distress, discrimination and
difficulties at school.
India is signatory to a lot of international conventions
for protection of children, the latest being 'the Rio De
Janeiro declaration and call for action to prevent and
stop sexual exploitation of children and adolescence,'
2008. Even article 39 and article 15 (3) poised India
for the manifestation of a platform wherein every
adolescent is granted of POCSO (Prevention of
children from sexual offence) act, 2012 which was
recently amended.
Salient features of POCSO :
Sexual offence becomes gender neutral.
Different forms of sexual abuse have been
included, it is not just restricted to sexual
harassment, pornography, penetrative and non-
penetrative assault.
Sexual assault is deemed to be aggravated if the
child is mentally ill or also when the abuse is
committed by a person in position of trust, such as
doctors, teacher, police or family member.
Aggravated offence is to be presumed guilty
unless the contrary is proven, that is, onus of
proving innocence lies on the accused.
The case should be cleared within one year of
cognisance irrespective of the date of committal of
the crime.
That also talks about privacy and confidentiality of
the victim, to be protected through all stages of
judicial process.
The highlight of this act lies in its intricacies wherein a
child (whosoever is below the age of 18) is at the
focus. Such as, when the child gives the statement,
the accused should not be in the vision of the child,
also no cross examination of the child. Also, there
should be a person he / she trusts around. The child
would also be granted special breaks during court
trials.
The very ethos of the act is to try not to keep the child
scarred for life and therefore, there also has been
provisions for complete compensations and
rehabilitation of the child. As Jim Hansen, in one of
his books, 'it's not easy being green' rightly quotes.
"(Kids) don't remember what you try to teach them.
They remember what you are."
- by Advait Nambiar