The Rights of the Deceased: Moral Rights Incidental to Copyright Law
- Vanshika Agrawal
- 2024-04-25
Everyday there is a report about a child who cannot even speak being raped or being sexually harassed. These children who cannot even understand what is happening to them are being subject to these heinous acts and the perpetrator
can easily get bail or can at times not even get caught. This was the reason due to which the Protection of Children from Sexual offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 was formulate- to protect the children from sexual abuse that they might be
subjected to by the people they know or the people they do not. Children can be lured easily, do not know what is
happening to them and they get scare easily, thus making them an easy target for habitual sexual offenders. In this article, we will be studying the significance of the POCSO Act with reference to recent judgements.
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The Act is a special law that aims at protecting children from offences relating to sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography. The Act defines a child as below 18 years of age. Until recently, provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
were use to deal with sexual offences against children as the law did not allow a distinction between an adult and a child. POCSO addresses sexual offences against individuals under 18 years of age. As soon as the case is file with the
relevant Juvenile Police Unit or the local police, POCSO provides for relief and rehabilitation.
The Act also defines different kinds of sexual assault are describe, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, sexual harassment, and pornography. The POCSO Act not only deals with the offences committed to girls below the
age of 18 years but also the boys below the age of 18 years. This act recognizes that even boys are subject to sexual abuse and they need to be protect as well.
The following defects are affect by the POCSO Act, 20124-
A recent judgment that is making headlines these days is the acquittal of the accused under the Bombay High Court Judgement which stated that squeezing a minor girl’s breasts without disrobing does not constitute “sexual assault”
within the scope of Section 8 of the POCSO Act.[2]
On a notice taken by the Attorney General, KK Venugopal, The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the acquittal of
the accused under the Bombay High Court Judgment, the order was pass by a bench led by the Chief Justice of India. Attorney General KK Venugopal argue that the decision that ‘skin-to-skin’ contact is require under
the POCSO Act for sexual harassment is ‘unprecedented’ and is ‘likely to set a dangerous precedent.’[3]
The decision made by the Supreme Court was sound as this order from Bombay High Court would create a multitude of loopholes due to a precedent and the conviction rate of sexual offences done to children would become very low. Not only that, the POCSO Act would be rendered powerless to prove the offence was committed by the offender,
and thus the predator would roam around the streets looking for his new prey.
Following these, a lot of new judgements related to the POCSO Act have made headlines in the past few days,
Such as:
In the Libnus case, the same Bench acquitted a 50-year-old man who was convict of holding the hand of a 5-year-old girl with his pant zip open by the Special POCSO Court for his behavior. The survivor also told her PW-1 mother
that the appellant had take his penis out of his trousers and ask her to sleep with him.In this case, the appellant was found guilty of aggravate sexual harassment under Section 10 of the POCSO and Section 12 of the POCSO, in addition to Section 10 of the POCSO and Section 12 of the POCSO,
in addition to Sections 354A and 448 of the IPC.[4] The indiscretion of the Court,
in this case, in declining to uphold the conviction under POCSO Sections 9 or 10 and 11 or 12 is profound because the
facts clearly define the ingredients of the crime of aggravated sexual assault and sexual harassment.
The POCSO Act is very relevant in the present times as the cases of brutality against children are increasing day by day and getting more heinous too. But the Act needs to be stricter in terms of handling the cases in recent time. The case
studies of the recent judgement show that the judiciary also plays a vital role in the conviction of the offenders for the wrong they have committed.
[1]Manojit Ghosh, Significance and Applicability of the POCSO Act, 2012, Rostrum’s Law Review ( 30 April, 2018) https://journal.rostrumlegal.com/significance-and-applicability-of-the-pocso-act-2012/
[2]Sharmeen Hakim, Pressing Breasts Without Disrobing Not “Sexual Assault” As Per POCSO Act But Offence Under Sec 354 IPC :
Bombay High Court, Live Law (24 Jan 2021 2:56 PM)
[3]Live Law News Network, [Breaking] Supreme Court Stays Bombay HC Judgment Which Held ‘Skin To Skin’ Contact Necessary For ‘Sexual Assault’ Under POCSO Act, Live Law (27 Jan 2021 01:08 PM)https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-stays-bombay-high-courts-skin-to-skin-judgment-in-pocso-case-168971
[4]Dr. Kumar Askand Pandey, Two Tales of Judicial Indiscretion: Recent Controversial POCSO Decisions of Bombay High Court,
Live Law (30 Jan 2021 01:44 PM) https://www.livelaw.in/columns/two-tales-of-judicial-indiscretion-recent-controversial-pocso-decisions-of-bombay-high-court-169135
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