Bill targeting child sexual abuse gets nod
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Bill that proposes to do away with the age of consent and deem any sexual relations with a person aged below 18 years as rape regardless of whether it is consensual sex or not. At present, the age of consent is 16 years in most parts of India.
The Prohibition of Sexual Harassment of Women in the Workplace Bill was referred to a GoM.
With the Cabinet having passed it, the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Bill is likely to be tabled in the current session of Parliament, sources in the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare said.
It is a landmark Bill that for the first time recognises how rampant the problem of child sexual abuse is and seeks to address it. The Bill has been drafted as per the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD which had said that the present age of consent clause should be treated as irrelevant up to the age of 18 as below that age, an individual is deemed as a child. The Indian Express had reported in February about the proposal to abolish age of consent.
If the Bill is passed in Parliament, it might, however, give rise to a situation where two laws take two different positions on the same offence. The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its the proposed amendments to the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act, even while making rape a gender neutral assault, thereby terming it sexual assault, has sought to retain the age of consent clause provided the consent is not obtained against the persons will through use of violence, intoxication, impersonation etc.
Meanwhile, penal provisions proposed in the Bill for assaults of sexual nature on children range from three years imprisonment to life in jail. It also proposes penalties for trafficking and child pornography maximum imprisonment of one year for both.
The Bill defines aggravated sexual assault as sexual assault by a police officer within his jurisdiction, a public servant taking advantage of his position, manager or of a person on the staff of jail remand home etc and proposes a sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment. The Bill also lays down procedures for investigators probing a complaint of child sexual assault on how to take a childs evidence so as not to traumatise him/her.
The Cabinet also approved a proposal from the department of biotechnology to establish a joint funding initiative called R&D for Affordable Healthcare in India with Wellcome Trust, London.