CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE LAW IN INDIA

Literature review
Child sexual abuse (CSA) meaning :-
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) as whenever a child is
involved in sexual activity that he/she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give consent to, or for
which the child is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent, or that violates the laws
or social taboos of society. CSA includes an array of sexual activities like fondling, inviting a child to
touch or be touched sexually, intercourse, exhibitionism, involving a child in prostitution or
pornography, or online child luring by cyber-predators. CSA is a serious problem of considerable
magnitude throughout the world. A recent systematic review of 55 studies from 24 countries found
much heterogeneity in studies in terms of definition and measurement of CSA and concluded that
rates of CSA ranged from 8 to 31% for females and from 3 to 17% for males.

Child Sexual Abuse in India

India has a large child population which is vulnerable to all types of abuses, neglect an exploitation.
According to Deb and Mukherjee, and Iravani , child sexual abuse (CSA) in India has been an age-
old and deep-rooted social problem, and child trafficking for commercial sexual abuse has become a
serious issue for policy makers.
According to national health survey of the total population in modern day India, about 44.4 % are
under 18 years of age (children and adolescents), and one in every two children is deprived in terms of
not receiving primary education, adequate nutrition and medical care.
In a study of sexually abused girls and their family members in Western Madya Pradesh, Sahay
(2010) found that, despite the fact that legal action was taken against the perpetrators of sexual abuse
whether in or outside the family, the family members of many of the sexually abused girls forced the
victims to keep the behavior of the abuser a secret. Parents and other family members asked the girls
to forget the events and in many cases even forgive the offenders for the sake of family honor and
family solidarity.
According to data by the National Crime Record Bureau, a total of 109 children were sexually
abused every day in India in 2018, which showed a 22 per cent jump in such cases from the previous
year, 32,608 cases were reported in 2017 while 39,827 cases were reported in 2018 under the
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
POCSO Act, 2012 is a comprehensive law to provide for the protection of children from offences of
sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography. It requires special treatment of cases relating to
child sexual abuse such as setting-up of special courts, special prosecutors, and support persons for
child victims. As many as 21,605 child rapes were recorded in 2018 which included 21,401 rapes of
girls and 204 of boys, the data showed.
[State of H.P. v. Desh Raj, 2017 SCC OnLine HP 1481, decided on 4.10.2017]
While deciding a criminal appeal filed by the State, a Single Judge Bench of Chander Bhusan
Barowalia, J. held that the statement of the victim is of great importance in cases under the POCSO
Act; however the appeal was dismissed based on the totality of circumstances.
The appeal was preferred by the State laying challenge to the Judgment passed by the Special Judge
whereby the accused was acquitted from the offence punishable under Section 8 of POCSO Act read
with Section 354(1) IPC and Section 3(1)(xi) of SC/ST Act. The victim (a girl, student of 8th standard
and belonging to SC category) filed a complaint against the accused (a shop keeper) alleging that he
molested her physically and asked for sexual favor.
Learned trial court acquitted the accused. Learned Advocate General argued that the prosecution
proved the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. He further argued that the statement of the
victim and her classmates showed that the accused committed a serious crime.
The High Court perused the statement of the victim and the witnesses and held that in cases of such
like nature, statement of victim is of great importance. However, the Court found that there were
discrepancies in the statement of the victim and other possibilities could not be ruled out. Also, none
of the prosecution witnesses supported the case of the prosecution. Accordingly, having regard to the
totality of the circumstances, the appeal was dismissed and the impugned order was upheld.

-by
Vaishnav reddy
BBA llb