The POCSO Act is soon going to be amended by the Centre to ensure justice to male child victims of sexual abuse or assault.

The information came from the Women and Child Development on Friday, days after President Ram Nath Kovind’s ordinance to provide the death penalty for rape of girls under the age of 12.

“The government has always strived to develop gender neutral laws. Government has proposed amendment in the POCSO Act to seek justice for survivors of child sexual abuse,” it said on its official Twitter handle on Thursday.

STEPS TAKEN AFTER CHANGE.ORG PETITION ON MALE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi recently supported a petition on Change.org by filmmaker-activist Insia Dariwala, who said “male child sexual abuse is an ignored reality in India”.

Replying to the petition, she said a first-of-its-kind study on male survivors of child sexual abuse would be conducted.

“Another much neglected sphere of child sexual abuse is male survivors. Child sexual abuse is gender neutral. Boys who are sexually abused as children spend a lifetime of silence because of the stigma and shame attached to male survivors speaking out. It is a serious problem and needs to be addressed,” she said in her response on the campaign website.

Gandhi said following the petition, she had in September 2017 instructed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to look into the issue.

The NCPCR held a conference in this regard in November last year.

“As per the recommendations that emerged from the conference, it was unanimously decided that there should be an amendment to the existing scheme for the victims of CSA to also include compensation for boys who have been sexually abused or raped,” Maneka Gandhi said.

STUDY FINDS CO-RELATION BETWEEN UNRESOLVED SEXUAL TRAUMA OF MALES AND INCREASING VIOLENCE ON FEMALES

During the NCPCR conference, a preliminary research by Dariwala with 160 male child survivors of sexual assault was brought to the front.

“Her study brought out some disturbing insights, including a possible co-relation between unresolved sexual trauma on boys, and increasing violence on women and children,” wrote Maneka Gandhi in her response.

Following this, the NCPCR has decided to invite Insia to conduct a larger study on male survivors of child sexual abuse, starting with Observation Homes, and Special Needs Homes, wrote the minister.

MAIN PROVISIONS OF THE POCSO ACT

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) 2012 was formed to protect children from offences of sexual abuse, sexual harassment and pornography and to provide a child-friendly system for the trial of these offences.

Public outrage over Kathua rape case along with other incidents of rape of children in the country drove the government to show urgency in its action.

However, the POCSO Act is not valid in the state of Jammu and Kashmir where the incident of rape of 8-year-old occurred.

The main provisions of the POCSO Act are:

1.In case of rape of a girl below the age of 12, the punishment will be- death penalty, life imprisonment or a minimum imprisonment of 20 years

2.Investigation and trial of all cases of rape should be completed within 2 months

3.There will be no provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of rape or gang rape of a girl under 16 years

4.To help the victim of rape better, the present scheme of One Stop Centres for assistance to the victim will be extended to all districts in the country

5.National Crime Records Bureau will maintain a national database and profile of sex offenders which will be shared with states/UTs to better track, monitor, investigate and verification of antecedents by police