In a rare show of unity, the Lok Sabha rose above party lines to unanimously pass the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 which seeks death penalty for aggravated sexual assault on children.
In a rare show of unity, the Lok Sabha rose above party lines to unanimously pass the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 which seeks death penalty for aggravated sexual assault on children.
Members from across all parties supported the amendments to the POCSO Act. As the Amendment Bill makes certain offences punishable with death, a few members asked that the Bill be referred to a standing committee or select committee.
The Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani said that the Bill aimed to make offences against children gender-neutral. The Bill defines child pornography as “visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child" including photograph, video, digital or computer generated image, and makes it punishable.
Bahujan Samaj Party senior leader, Danish Ali said, "In a majority of the cases, either the children do not tell their parents what has happened to them or the parents ask the children to remain silent about it." S Jothimani of the Congress said that there was no chance of reform if death penalty was given to a juvenile offender, while N K Premachandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party also spoke about the death penalty provision.
“The Juvenile Justice Act covers this aspect. If the Juvenile Justice Board finds the child is of an adult mind and if he is over 16 years of age, only then will the court take a decision about it," clarified Smriti Irani. She added that over 1,000 fast track courts will work for the speedy disposal of pending cases under POCSO and 18 States have consented to set up fast track courts.
The child pornography offender will be punished with imprisonment up to five years and a fine. If he repeats, then the punishment would be up to seven years and a fine. In case of penetrative sexual assaults on a child below 16 years of age, the Bill seeks for the accused to be punished with an imprisonment of upto 20 years, which can be extended to life imprisonment as well as a fine.
When an aggravated penetrative sexual assault case is registered, then the amendment in the Bill increases the minimum punishment from 10 years to 20 years, with the maximum punishment being death penalty.
Minister Smirti Irani said that 6 lakh sexual offenders have been registered under the National Database on Sexual Offenders.