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The Rajya Sabha on 24th July, 2019 passed the bill to amend Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 (POCSO) to provide stricter punishments for child sex abuse, unanimously.
The minimum punishment for 'aggravated penetrative sexual assault', which includes cases when a police officer, a member of the armed forces, a public servant or a relative of the child commits penetrative sexual assault or if the assault injures the sexual organs of the child or the child becomes pregnant, among others, has been proposed to be increased from ten years to twenty years and the maximum punishment is proposed as death penalty.
The Bill also proposes to increase the punishment for 'penetrative sexual assault' from seven years to ten years and further adds that if a person commits such an offence on a child below the age of 16 years, he will be punishable with imprisonment between 20 years to life, and a fine.
The offences which added to the definition of aggravated sexual assault include: (i) assault committed during a natural calamity, and (ii) administrating or help in administering any hormone or any chemical substance, to a child for the purpose of attaining early sexual maturity.
‘Sexual acts committed on children during communal or sectarian violence’ was originally present in the Act under the definition 'aggravated penetrative assault'. This was proposed to be substituted with 'assault committed during a natural calamity, or in any similar situations of violence'. Accepting suggestions by members of the House to specifically mention 'communal or sectarian violence' in the definition of 'aggravated penetrative sexual assault', Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani moved an amendment for the same.
TMC member Derek O'brien recounted the experience of sexual abuse he faced as a 12 year old boy and stressed the need to shed the stigma attached to sex abuse. Smriti Irani praised O'brien for showing the courage to share his trauma to the world.
She assured that 1023 special POCSO courts will be set up within this financial year itself for fast tracking trial in cases and the Government has sanctioned the amount for the same. She also said that the Centre will be closely monitoring the establishment and functioning of the fast track courts by collaborating with the State Governments and High Courts.
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