The protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,2012(POCSO ACT,2012)

0 0

Blog By-

Shiv prakash prjapati

Amity University

We will discuss about the protection of children from sexual offences act 2012 but before we go into the details of the act it is very important to understand why what is the necessity of this act why did this act be actually formed.

Need for POCSO ACT,2012

If we going to the history of the formation of this act we find that before the year 2012 there was no act which was very specific to the problem of sexual harassment of children.The existing act did not cover the sexual assault and sexual offences or sexual harassment against children  and moreover many children were not covered under any of the existing laws of that time. So it  was very important that a law specifically focusing towards the protection of children from sexual offences be incorporated and talking to play. With this idea of the Pocso  act 2012 came into being shut down we go into the details of this act.

Purpose of the Act-

Provide protection to all children from offences of sexual assault sexual harassment and pornography.child defined as any person under the age of 18 years.

Offences covered under the act

This act covers 6 different types of offences against children. 1- the very first that we need to discuss under this is Penetrative  sexual assault 2-next is aggravated penetrative Sexual Assault  then it’s  3-sexual assault, 4-aggravated sexual assault, 5-sexual harassment and 6-use of children for pornographic purposes. what is penetrative  sexual assault?  penetrative sexual assault is an offence where the penis  or any other object or any of the body part  is penetrated to any extent into the  vagina anus mouth or urethra of the child or the child is made to do the same to the perpetrator or to any other person. This falls under penetrative sexual assault. Penetrative sexual assault it also covers the use of mouth or touch by mouth into the  private parts of the child or making the child to do the same to the perpetrator or to any other person this is penetrative sexual assault.  Sexual assault means touching by mouth to the child a vagina or the mouth or any private part of the child or making the child to do the same to the perpetrator or to any other person. Sexual harassment is using of words or gestures or language with the sexual intent on the child or making the child to watch doing him or touching him any private parts falls under a view of sexual harassment.  sexual harassment also covers online sexual harassment where the child be is made to watch for pornographic  material. this all comes under the view of sexual harassment. The next is use of children for pornographic purposes. Where the children are used in recording through audio visual medium any pornography material. These are the major categories of offences covered under this act.

Offence is “aggravated”when:

Now we will discuss about aggravated penetrative sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault. when does an offence becomes aggravated? The offence would become aggravated penetrative sexual assault when it is committed by a person in position of trust authority for example if the crime or the offence is committed by a police officer any government servant any army official it will fall under the purview of aggravated penetrative sexual assault or sexual assault as the case maybe. It becomes aggravated when the offence is committed by people of medical institutions of jail remand home or the protection home where the child is placed to care and protection. If the offences committed by the people of those institutions it will comes under the category of aggravated. It will also be become aggravated if it’s gang assault when the offence is done by more than one person.If the same person is repeated the doing offence it becomes aggravated offence if due to the offence which child faces grievous physical and mental disability it is considered aggravated offence. it will also be considered aggravated if the offences done taking advantage of the disability of the child. For example the child is mentally or physically disabled and due to this the child is assaulted it becomes aggravated sexual assault.  it also becomes aggravated when the assault is done on a child who is below the age of 12 years or  if You offence is done by a relative of the person or by a person who is very known or closed to the victim it also becomes aggravated when the attempt was there to murder the child and if the child is made to strip and walking naked in public after the offence it becomes aggravated  sexual assault. Again it also becomes aggravated when the offences committed by force who was previously convicted for doing the same offence on some other children. it is an aggravated offence and also becomes aggravated when it is done during communal violence or during some sectarian violence   for example if there are Godhra problems or any other situation whether law and order of the places in a back position and then taking the situation of the law and order of that place a child is assaulted it becomes aggravated sexual assault.

Punishments under the Act:-

Next we will discuss about the punishment under this act. this act is very stringent when deciding upon the punishment that has to be given to the propitiator of the offences. so now we coming to the various categories of the punishment as per the gravity of the offence.

The first is Penetrative Sexual Assault so the Punishment for penetrative assault is minimum seven years of imprisonment which can go up to life imprisonment. According to the latest amendment of the Indian penal code in the year 2018 there has been a provision made even death penalty can be given to a propitiator. It the crime  is committed against the child who is below 12 years of age. But she has the age of child who is below the age of 12 years and  it is specifically for female child. So as of now the amendment was only for female child below the age of 12 years.

Next is Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault, here are the punishment is minimum 10 years of imprisonment which can go up to life imprisonment and also level for fine.

Next we come to sexual assault for sexual assault punishment is minimum three years of imprisonment which can go up to 5 years of imprisonment and along with fine.

For aggravated sexual assault its minimum five years of imprisonment which can go up to 7 years of imprisonment along with fine

The punishment for sexual harassment of the child is up to 3 years of imprisonment along with fine.

Next we come to the punishment for using a child for pornographic purposes here the punishment is five years if convicted for first time if it is repeated offence the punishment can go up to 7 years of imprisonment along with fine.

Now this law also talks about locally using the child to pornographic purposes back if along with the using the child pornographeic purposes any of the offences as per the act for example penetrative sexual assault or sexual harassment or aggravated penetrative sexual assault is committed the crime the punishment increases as per the gravity of the crime committed on the child so these were the  basic areas where we discuss about the punishment under this act.  this act is also very specific about providing punishment for storing pornographic material where a child has been used. And  if this pornographic material is used for commercial purposes or just for storing also there is a punishment which can go up to 3 years of imprisonment and along with the fine.

Another very unique aspect of this act is the burden of proof which is shifted on the accused in cases of aggravated penetrative sexual assault ,penetrative sexual assault,sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault. So  in these four categories the burden of proof is on the accused. Normally we see in jurisprudence the burden of proof is on the victim but here the proper theatre will have to prove to self not guilty otherwise the law presumed That he is guilty and he will have to prove that he is no guilty.

Abetment and attempt:-

Another aspect of this act is abetment.  this act takes  abetment very seriously and the punishment for amendment is same as of actually committing the crime.next is attempt to commit an offence under this act if a person tries to commit the offence but does not actually commit the offence even then The law will consider this as an  attempt to committing the offence and the punishment for this is Half of the actual offence punishment.for example if the punishment for penetrative sexual assault is seven years of imprisonment of life and somebody tries to committed to offence but does not actually do  the offence even then He is liable to punishment and it can be the half of the actual quantum of punishment given if the crime is committed.

Procedure for reporting of cases

This act also covers trafficking of children and its purview and it is considered as crime and there is a punishment for the same. Next what become is how What is the procedure of reporting cases of Pocso.

Under this act it’s mandatory to report  cases  of sexual offences. Now where to report? As obviously the first point of reporting would be to the local police station or to the SJPU(Special juvenile police unit). It is important to report all the cases of sexual offences to the police.there after the police have to take immediate action and immediate FIR has to be registered by the police and the police will starts its investigation. The very first point  that comes in mind that we are talking about sexual offences cases, is the medical assistance that has to be given to the child. it is mandatory for the police to provide immediate medical assistance to the child. next comes reporting the case to the child welfare committee it is very important that all cases of sexual offences that are  reported to the police.  the police has to inform the CWC about the offence committed. With in 24 hours of cognizance by the police. The CWC will then necessary action about the child. There are three categories where are the CWC decide not to send back the child where it goes belonging to. For example If a case of sexual offence is committed by a member of the family or at the place where the child is stayed if a offence is committed there the CWC considering the best interest of  the child may decide to not to send the child back home.

Next Is the medical assistance.  it is very important to provide immediate medical assistance and medical examination of the child to be conducted. medical assistance for a child will be conducted by a lady doctor for female child and it is very important that all the forensic material is collected Show that the case becomes prosecutionready.and all the points and forensic materials is collected.in case a lady doctor is not available in hospital or  the parents or  guardian of the child  is not available at that time then any female staff of the hospital can be nominated to be present during medical examination and this termination will be done by the head of that medical institution. After the medical examination of the child it’s done medical assistance is  to provided to  the child it is the role of police to initiate the investigation and records the statement of the child. As per CRPC section 164 The the statement of the child will be recorded in the language spoken by the child the police will not desipher of the child is saying but actually record and understand that the child is saying. Recording of the statement investigation starts.

Mandatory reporting of cases:-

Failure to report commission of offence punishable with imprisonment of six months or fine or both section 21(1)

failure to record an offence also punishable with imprisonment of six months or with the fun of both session 21(1)

About Post Author

Vidhi Seva Evam Samajik Utthan Samiti

[email protected]

http://vidhiseva

Happy

0 0 %

Sad

0 0 %

Excited

0 0 %

Sleepy

0 0 %

Angry

0 0 %

Surprise

0 0 %