The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The Government on January 08, 2019 introduced in Lok Sabha amendments to the POCSO Act, which provides for the death penalty for aggravated sexual assault on children, making it gender neutral and introducing provisions against child pornography and for enhancing punishment for certain offences.

Key Highlights

• The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019, seeks to protect children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography and provide for the establishment of Special Courts for the trial of such offences.
• The Sections 4, 5, 6 of the Act are proposed to be amended to provide the option of stringent punishment, including death penalty, for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child.
• The proposal also includes amendments to POCSO to extend the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018 that prescribes death penalty to those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years, to the male child survivor as well.