Chairperson calls for specific legislation to deal with child abuse
Justice J.S. Verma, Chairperson, NHRC has said that the lack of appropriate legislation was a major hurdle in dealing with the cases of child rape and child sexual abuse. He said that not only was the definition of child abuse and child rape inadequate, but the definition of rape itself was not sufficient in the present circumstances. The Chairperson was speaking at a workshop organized by the NHRC along with Angaja Foundation, an NGO, to sensitise judges, lawyers and police officials on the issue of child rape and child sexual abuse.
The impact of child abuse on its victims, he said, was beyond the full comprehension of anybody. It left a scar on the child’s mind, which remained forever. With increasing awareness of this evil, it had now become easier to work towards its prevention. Prevention, he said, was more essential than merely punishing the guilty.
The Chairperson also called for more thought to go into the legislation required to deal with such crimes. He referred in this connection to grave incidents of the sexual abuse of children in a protection home in Varanasi, which the Commission had taken up. Out of the three members on the Board of the protection home, two had been found to be involved. Senior public servants/law enforcement officers were also implicated. The Commission, which conducted a preliminary investigation in this case, had subsequently asked the CBI to conduct a thorough investigation and report to the Commission.
Shri Arun Jaitely, Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs, delivering the inaugural address, said that until a few years ago there was no mention of this subject at all. He highlighted a case where even the Supreme Court had declined to believe that a child could be sexually abused by her father. Unfortunately, this presumption of society had proven to be wrong. The offence, however, was still the most under-reported because of social conservatism, social unacceptability and the tendency to sweep it under the carpet.
The Minister regretted that there was, at present, no real law to deal with the sexual abuses of children. It could either be categorized as an `unnatural offence’ or under `physical assault’ of the child, but the punishments in respect of these two offences were too low. It was also easy to secure bail under these categories and there was thus no strong deterrent.
The Minister also criticized the traditional mode of investigation of cases of sexual abuse: the child victim was often grilled in an embarrassing manner right in front of the tormentor. This mode of investigation needed to be totally altered and additional, or special legislation was required which could adequately deal with sexual assaults on children.
The two-day Workshop examined the various aspects of this problem and the role that non-governmental organizations, the police, judges, lawyers and doctors could play in dealing with it more adequately.
The impact of child abuse on its victims, he said, was beyond the full comprehension of anybody. It left a scar on the child’s mind, which remained forever. With increasing awareness of this evil, it had now become easier to work towards its prevention. Prevention, he said, was more essential than merely punishing the guilty.
The Chairperson also called for more thought to go into the legislation required to deal with such crimes. He referred in this connection to grave incidents of the sexual abuse of children in a protection home in Varanasi, which the Commission had taken up. Out of the three members on the Board of the protection home, two had been found to be involved. Senior public servants/law enforcement officers were also implicated. The Commission, which conducted a preliminary investigation in this case, had subsequently asked the CBI to conduct a thorough investigation and report to the Commission.
Shri Arun Jaitely, Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs, delivering the inaugural address, said that until a few years ago there was no mention of this subject at all. He highlighted a case where even the Supreme Court had declined to believe that a child could be sexually abused by her father. Unfortunately, this presumption of society had proven to be wrong. The offence, however, was still the most under-reported because of social conservatism, social unacceptability and the tendency to sweep it under the carpet.
The Minister regretted that there was, at present, no real law to deal with the sexual abuses of children. It could either be categorized as an `unnatural offence’ or under `physical assault’ of the child, but the punishments in respect of these two offences were too low. It was also easy to secure bail under these categories and there was thus no strong deterrent.
The Minister also criticized the traditional mode of investigation of cases of sexual abuse: the child victim was often grilled in an embarrassing manner right in front of the tormentor. This mode of investigation needed to be totally altered and additional, or special legislation was required which could adequately deal with sexual assaults on children.
The two-day Workshop examined the various aspects of this problem and the role that non-governmental organizations, the police, judges, lawyers and doctors could play in dealing with it more adequately.