A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE ON ADDRESSING CHILD ABUSE IN INDIA UNDER THE POCSO ACT, 2012
AUTHOR – INDRESH VIKRAM SINGH CHAUHAN* & MISS SUKRITI YADAV**
STUDENT* & ASSISTANT PROFESSOR** AT AMITY UNIVERSITY LUCKNOW UTTAR PRADESH
BEST CITATION – INDRESH VIKRAM SINGH CHAUHAN & MISS SUKRITI YADAV, A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE ON ADDRESSING CHILD ABUSE IN INDIA UNDER THE POCSO ACT, 2012, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 4 (1) OF 2024, PG. 1451-1460, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
Abstract
Sexual offenses involving a child can take m any different forms. The world’s largest child population resides in India, and thus, it is not surprising that in India as well, such crimes are being committed in large numbers. Still, appallingly, the majority of child sexual abuse instances in India go unreported or unnoticed. It has been found that most of the offenders were well-known criminals who were related to the victims and were usually trusted by the family or victim, such as the home tutors, school teachers, neighbors, cousins, and servants. In some tragic cases, the father or stepfather was also involved in the crime. The perpetrators are violating not just the moral rights but also the fundamental rights of the children (right to life with dignity), in my opinion. Even according to the NCRB report, 96% of the offenders were someone the child knew. Additionally, they might be exploited in organized rings of pedophiles while producing pictures and videos that show child sex abuse. This has a detrimental effect on children’s general development and health. The Indian Constitution guarantees certain rights of and for children. In addition to many of these protections, the Indian legislature enacted a law that specifically designed to protect children as they realized the process and the existing laws had no provisions for dealing with the sexual abuse of male kids, and the erstwhile statutory laws were insufficient to address sexual offenses. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 was thus enacted to close the loopholes erstwhile laws had. The vast majority of Indian laymen are not aware of this specialized statute that shields their kids from “sexual assault,” “sexual harassment,” and “Child Pornography,” let alone use it in the event of a tragedy. The subject matter of the current study is victimization and the role of the courts in situations involving sexual offenses related to minors. The most horrible crime against children is child sexual abuse (CSA), which is typically concealed in the natural world. It is the crime that is least publicized. Over a person’s lifetime, the effects of CSA persist. It’s now understood to be toxic stress that can cause irreversible emotional harm to a child. Through this paper, the author has tried to identify the Indian statute and its impact on society, compare analysis with the similarly placed laws of other developed economies, and what, as a society, we all can do to provide a safer atmosphere for kids to grow.