Death Penalty For Child Abusers: POCSO Bill Passed In Lok Sabha

No more hollow words for action against child abusers. The Lok Sabha has finally passed an amendment bill ordering stricter rules and the death penalty for criminals under the POCSO Act.

RLP MP Hanuman Beniwal said that those convicted for such crimes should be hanged publicly so that it creates a dissuasion.

The Protection Of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Amendment Bill also defines child pornography while making it punishable. Though the bill witnessed debate for around four hours, it was then successfully passed in the Lower House. The bill was moved by Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, and some MPs were of the view that the bill should be referred to a Select Committee in view of the death penalty for certain offences.

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Protection To 43 Crore Children

Irani said that the bill will provide protection to 39% of population or 43 crore children. She said that considering the heinous activities against children in the past, it was very necessary to define child pornography. She also mentioned about a channel that featured child pornography and managed to attract 5000 followers. Not only this, she also reinstated the incidents where children were injected with hormones for artificial maturity for sexual abuse.

Protection Of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Amendment Bill seeks to death penalty of aggravated sexual assault against children.

More Than 40,000 Teachers To Be Trained For Awareness Programmes

The Women and Child Development Minister also said that CBSE will conduct awareness programmes in schools to make children aware of safe and unsafe touch. For this purpose, more than 40,000 teachers will be trained. The bill also makes it a punishable offence to administer or help in administering hormones that are used for early sexual maturity in children.

RLP MP Hanuman Beniwal said that those convicted for such crimes should be hanged publicly so that it creates a dissuasion. Kirron Kher from BJP said that the criminals should be chemically castrated instead of simply sending them behind the bars.

1023 Fast Track Courts To Be Set Up

In response to increasing brutality against children, the Supreme Court has also asked the government to set up fast track courts particularly for POCSO cases. The centre has been asked to allocate funds so that these special courts can be set up. This will include appointing judges, support staff and special prosecutors. The court has also given the government a 60-days deadline for such courts to start functioning. The matter will be next taken up by the court on September 26

“The Government reached out to each state and 18 states have consented to set up these courts. We have ensured that an expenditure of Rs 767 crore of which the government of India support would be Rs 474 crore is now given so that these fast track courts are established within the limited time frame of 2019-2021,” Irani said, adding that this reflects the priority of the government. Irani further added, “To ensure the quality of justice dispensed, an evaluation would be done through an institution empanelled by Niti Aayog with regards to this process, which the government is about to undertake.”

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