The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) (Amendment) Bill was passed by both houses of parliament and got presidential accent on 5th August, 2019. It aims to combat rising cases of child sex abuse in the country.
Salient Features
Death Penalty: Stringent punishments for crime against minors and proposal of death penalty for the cases of aggravated sexual assault on of minors. It was justified by citing the judgments of the Supreme Court in Machhi Singh (1983) and Devender Pal Singh (2002) in which the court has held that the death penalty can be awarded only in rarest of rare cases. Thus the intention of the Bill is to have a deterrent effect.
Criticism
Inability of stringent punishments in curbing child sexual abuse, for instance after the Nirbhaya case very stringent laws were enacted but they failed to stop the abuse. In fact, the crime rate has escalated.
Way Forward
State should bear entire expenses of treatment of victims of child sex abuse.