Patna: Inaugurating the two days State level consultation workshop on Child Sexual Abuse and the Implementation of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, 2012 jointly organized by UNICEF Bihar, Bihar Judicial academy & Chanakya National Law University the Judge of Patna High Court, Ahsanuddin Amanullah outlined the objectives of the two day workshop programme. He said, “!e are here to listen, talk and deliberate the provisions relating to protection of children from sexual harm abuses etc. as well as determine the role we have to play under the newly enacted legislation, POCSO, 2012”.
Ahsanuddin Amanullah highlighted the fact that there has been a significant increase in the number of children for need of care and protection. In 2007, the ministry of women and child development reported that 53.22 % of children sampled from across 13 states had faced sexual abuse. Among them 52.94% were boys and 47.06 % girls. 50% of abuses are by persons known to the child or who are in the position of trust with the child. Most cases go unreported because of fear of ostracism. It reflects upon the failure of the justice system, the judicial process and stands corroborated by the dismal rate of conviction.
He concluded by saying that implementation requires the participation of all the stakeholders to building up a support structure and proper understanding of our roles in the collective endeavor. On this occasion Justice V.N. Sinha said that notwithstanding the existence of provisions under penal laws like I.P.C and C.R.P.C, nothing much has been done towards ensuring justice to the victims of child sexual abuse. Data indicates that children are abused inside the house outside the house and elsewhere.
Children who have been sexually abused are not given the same amount of love and affection that they are normally entitled to and are likely to become a juvenile in conflict with law. Hence the very edifice is demolished. There is need for the institution established under the JJ Act, and the POCSO Act to work in tandem with each other and in concert with the other institutions established under other related legislations. To render justice different from disposal of cases and therefore in order to ensure justice and collaborative approach is required on part of the institutions involved
Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari highlighted the need to have a patient approach to the analysis of the issue at hand in order to better appreciate the concept, nuances, fallout and deficiencies of the enactment. The judiciary cannot remove the deficiency in the enactment without the efforts of members of the bar who are leaders of the society as well as members of the NGO who can do the needful in this regard. He also referred to the development of law regarding rape in the UK. The earlier notion that unlawful intercourse will have to be considered outside the scope of the institution of marriage has been abandoned and now even the husband can be prosecuted for the crime of the rape. This is because of the realization men and women are equal partners in the institution of marriage and neither is subordinate to the other.
Addressing the august gathering Bihar UNICEF Chief Dr Yamin Mazumdar said “According to the National Crime Record bureau (NCRB) a total of 8541 cases of child rape were reported in the country during 2012 as compared to 7112 in 2011, accounting an increase of 20.1% during the year 2012”.
Certainly, the percentage increase as an alarming sigh and therefore, an enactment of POCSO Act -2012 is a welcome sign. This is a unique legislation in many ways as it talks about building a multi disciplinary approach to work with the child survivors of sexual abuse. POCSO Act also provides guideline for the police and courts to deal with victim’s sensitivity and provides for the setting up of the special court/Children court. He said “ The 2007 MWCD study found that, among abused children’ only 25% had told anyone and only 03 percent of the cases had police been informed†.
In order to be more effective towards the implementation of the POCSO Act, the role of judiciary is going to be of paramount importance. Unfortunately due to lack of effective monitoring and periodic reviews the efficacy and effectiveness remain a big hurdles. During technical session of the workshop Ms Vidya Reddy From Tulir given a detailed presentation on Dynamics of Child Sex abuse and the realities of child victims in criminal justice system. She said “ what we get to hear about the child sex abuse is only the tip of the iceberg. For example, if Dec 16, 2012 ( Delhi Nirbhaya Case) happened in some remote district in Bihar, it wouldn’t have been news probably. It nearly took 60 years after the independence for the legislature to come up with a law specifically dealing with child sexual abuse.
Dynamics of sexual violence differ extremely from other forms of violence. A survey conducted in 2007 revealed that 53.22% of children in India have reported in India have reported some sort of sexual violence. Amongst this 21.90% of children reported severe form of sexual abuse and 5.69% of them reported sexual abuses. It was observed that a whopping 56% of the abusers were person known to the child. It has been observed that most of the children do not report instances of sexual abuse to anyone. The survey also revealed that boys report as much as girls do.
She also explained the different form of sexual abuse. She says that the reasons for lower rate of reporting are due to the reason that there is an aura of stigmatization around sexual violence and people have less or no confidence in criminal justice system. Child sexual abuse always happens in a context by a person who mostly is not a stranger to the victim. With aim to sensitize all Judicial Officers including Additional District Judge 1, Special Prosecution Officers and the Child Welfare Committee a two days long workshop has inaugurated today at Bihar Judicial Academy, Patna. This workshop is first of its kind at the State level, where all judicial officers will be orientated to the provisions under the POCSO Act and the support structures available to provide justice to the survivors of abuse.
Additional District Judge 1, Special Prosecution Officers, Presidents of Child Welfare Committee of all the 38 districts participated in the workshop.