INTRODUCTION:

Sexual abuses on children are a big dealt stain on society’s face at large as it shook the human consciousness of the society and has caused obstruction in the normal and healthy growth of children. It leads to grave physical and psychological effects on the body and mind of a child and dismantles the normal growth of a child. It does not leave only physical injuries on the body but also leaves an everlasting scar on the child’s mind at a very tender age. POCSO ACT has been birthed out of the very need to enact a specific legislation to tackle with the increasing sexual abuse against children in form of abuses like rape, pornography, various forms of penetration and crimiiliazes acts of immodesty against children too.

Child Sex Abuse is considered as the most heinous crime which can be done to a child as the offender of these crimes knows that the forced sex which they are doing with the child is by leashing child’s vulnerability and trust and is exposing to child under grave trauma which is not just a physical attack on its body and private parts but also disturbing a child’s mind so blatantly that it can take a lifetime for the child to feel normal ever after that abuse.

Before stepping into any discussion with the related topic, we need to know that what is the meaning of “Death Penalty”? Moreover, what the object behind the introduction of POCSO Act, in the Indian Judiciary?

Death penalty refers to the Death punishment that is given by the court for the rare offences like Sedition, waging war against the state, Gang rape and other heinous crime. It is also known as Capital punishment. The sentence by which someone can be punished is referred to as a death sentence, whereas the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. 56 countries have still retained capital punishment, 103 countries have completely abolished it de jure for all crimes, 6 have abolished it for ordinary crimes (while maintaining it for special circumstances such as war crimes), and 30 countries abolition are still withheld.

Now Days this question is very controversial in nature, that whether Death penalty should be abolished or not and I am totally in favor of the decriminalization of death penalty and thus I would likely to justify my point:

As it was said by Mahatma Gandhi that – An eye for an eye will make the whole world is blind? Now time has come to adopt the reformative theory of punishment because Criminal is not criminal by birth but rather Situation made them harsh criminal. So, again in a statement Mahatma Gandhi said “Hate the crime, not the criminal” but in such situation of heinous crimes always it is not possible that people will not hate the criminal who have devastated one’s life into pain and agony. So, this two statements are contradictory.

The reason behind the decriminalization of death penalty is that it is prohibited in 103 countries of the world and it is not necessary that criminal commits a crime again they can be reform and our Article 21 is also saying that everyone has right to live and personal liberty. Thus, in conclusion I would likely to say that in our Country, Retributive theory of punishment has failed to stopped rather control the crime and through Death penalty the criminal can be killed but not his ideology so now the society needs to accept that reformative theory of punishment should be adopted or in my opinion the way of punishment should be made much harsher so that any hardbound criminal thinks twice before committing any such heinous crimes. The Montgomery Story, said, “Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral… it seeks to annihilate rather than convert.”

Some are the following actions which are considered as Child Sexual Abuse:

(According to a report by WHO)

• Fondling a child’s genitals
• Making the child fondle the adult’s genitals
• Intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism and sexual exploitation
• Inducement or coercion of child in unlawful activity.
• The exploitative use of child in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices
• The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.

The effects of child sexual abuse can include:

• Depression
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Anxiety
• low self esteem
• propensity to further victimization in adulthood
• physical injury to child
• Psychological trauma
• Loss of confidence
• Humiliation
• Behavioral changes
• Suicidal tendency

POCSO ACT mandates the state parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child are required to undertake all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent –

• The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
• The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;
• The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials;

THE STATISTICS OVERVIEW BY SAVE THE CHILD ORGANISATION BIG PICTURE OF POCSO ACT ACROSS INDIA

As per the data collected by Save the Children, India it has shown that recently, the new child protection legislation like the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act (2012) has given more teeth to fighting child rights violation. The number of cases registered for child abuse raised from 8,904 in the year 2014 to 14,913 in the year 2015, under the POSCO Act. Sexual offences and kidnapping account for 81% of the crimes against the minor as preventive measures designed to ward off strangers (installing CCTV cameras and providing self-defense training) will be ineffective, as children do not know how to ward off unwanted sexual advances from their known relatives, acquaintances or workplace seniors they trust.

POSCO – State wise cases –

• Uttar Pradesh led the highest number of child abuse cases (3,078)
• Madhya Pradesh (1,687 cases)
• Tamil Nadu (1,544 cases)
• Karnataka (1,480 cases)
• Gujarat(1,416cases).

Moreover, the act has raised the age of consent from 16 to 18 years without considering scientific evidence on adolescent sexuality. Children involved in sexual activity will be treated as juveniles in conflict with the law. In cases of consensual sexual relationships between those in the age group of 16 and 18 years, how can we distinguish between the victim and the perpetrator. In an enormous 83% of the cases parents were the abusers. Sadly, approximately 48% of the girls wished they were boys.

 Across the country, going by the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the incidence of crime against children rose by 13.6 per cent in 2016 compared with the previous year.

• Uttar Pradesh led the list with as many as 4,954 complaints, followed by Maharashtra (4,815) and Madhya Pradesh (4,717).
• In Bengal, however, the commission for protection of child rights had recorded only 34 cases last year.

As reported by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the details of incidences of child sexual abuse in the country are as under:

Cases	2014	2015
Cases registered under child rape (section 376 IPC)	13766	10854
Cases registered under Assault on Women (girl children) with intent to outrage her modesty (section 354 IPC)	11335	8390
Cases registered under Insult to the Modesty of Women (girl children) (section 509 IPC)	444	348
Cases registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012	8904	14913

 

Under Rule 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Rules, 2012, grant of compensation to the victim is required to be made under the victim compensation scheme by the State/UT Government as ordered by the Special Courts within 30 days of receipt of such order.

 

State/UT-wise cases registrered, persons arrested, persons whose trials completed during the year and person convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 during 2014-2015
	Year	2014				2015
	Category	Cases Registered	Persons Arrested	Persons whose trial completed during the year	Persons Convicted	Cases Registered	Persons Arrested	Persons whose trial completed during the year	Persons Convicted
	TOTAL (ALL INDIA)	8904	11172	548	109	14913	18651	2501	1072
Source: Crime in India		Note: Persons disposed may include previous year persons under trial

 

Implementation of The POCSO Act, 2012

The effectiveness of a law depends largely on the people responsible for its implementation and application. State governments will have to ensure that all the requirements specified under the law are in place and all key stakeholders will have to internalize the core principles of child rights in order for the law to work.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

Reasons for Enactment of POCSO Act, 2012

The very inadequacy of Indian Penal Code and absence of any stringent legislation for effectively addressing and tackling heinous crimes such as sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children birthed the commencement of  POCSO ACT as the very intention of Government establishments was to protect the children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography and to facilitate adequate legal machinery by establishing special courts for trial of such offences and matters incidental connected with child sexual abuse crimes. This was in due compliance of Article 15 of Constitution of India which mandates the states to protect the children of this nation and in lieu of United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child which prescribes the set of standards to be followed by state parties in securing the best interest of the child.

 

What is POCSO Act? Here is all we need to know about the following Act:

POCSO or The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) 2012 was established to protect the children against offences like sexual abuse, sexual harassment and pornography. It was formed to provide a child-friendly and safe system for trial beneath which the perpetrators could be punished. This Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age. It also makes provisions for avoiding the re-victimization of the child at the hands of the judicial system. Many issues including stigma, family and societal pressure, financial constraints and an insensitive criminal justice system need to be resolved for victims to come forward more and for their rapists to face punishment for their crimes.

In order to effectively give punishment for the heinous crimes relating to sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children through less ambiguous and more rigorous legal provisions, the Ministry of Women and Child Development developed the idea for the introduction of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 has received the President’s assent on June 19, 2012. It was notified in the Gazette of India on June 20, in the same year.

The Act defines different forms of sexual abuse which includes penetrative and non-penetrative assault or actions committed towards a child. It also involves sexual harassment, pornography and other such heinous crimes. Under certain specific circumstances POCSO states a sexual assault is to be considered “aggravated if the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a member of the armed forces or security forces or a public servant or a person in a position of trust or authority of the child, like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor or a person-management or staff of a hospital — whether Government or private”.  People who traffic children for sexual purposes are also punishable under the provisions relating to abetment in the Act. The Act prescribes strict punishment graded as per the weightage or seriousness of the offence, depending on the situation with a maximum term of rigorous imprisonment for life, along with fine.

 

IMPORTANT RELATED STATUTES/LAWS:

This Act after its commencement, out of all statutes made some of it way more important and a mandate to be followed. This Act makes it a legal duty of a person, who is aware about the offence immediately without any delay to report the sexual abuse. In case he fails to do so, the person can be punished with six months’ imprisonment or fine. The Act further denotes that the evidence relating to the child or provided by the child should be recorded within a period of thirty days. The Special Court taking cognizance of the matter should be able to complete the trial within the period of one year from the date of taking cognizance of the abuse. It provides that the Special Court proceedings should be recorded in camera (maintaining privacy keeping in mind the safety and honor of the victim child) and the trial should take place in the presence of parent’s or any other person in whom the child has trust or confidence.

Moreover, the Act provides for punishment against false complaints or untrue information. It describes strict action against the offender according to the gravity of the offence. It prescribes rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and also fine as punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault. It also prescribes punishment to the people who traffic children for sexual purposes.

Child sex abuse crimes before the enactment of POCSO Act were dealt under Indian Penal code. Child Sexual abuses were prosecuted under Indian Penal Code under following sections

• P.C (1860) – Sec 375 Rape
• P.C (1860) – Sec 354 Outraging the modesty of women
• P.C (1860) –  Sec 377 Unnatural Offences

The I.P.C. was not adequate enough to protect the children and criminalize non- conventional sexual abuses which are different from above mentioned conventional crimes in form of child trafficking, pornography, sale of children. There were several loopholes in the IPC which could not effectively protect the child due to various loopholes like:

• IPC 375 doesn’t protect male victims or anyone from sexual acts of penetration other than “traditional” peno -vaginal intercourse.
• IPC 354 lacks a statutory definition of “modesty”. It carries a weak penalty and is a compoundable offence. Further, it does not protect the “modesty” of a male child.
• In IPC 377, the term “unnatural offences” is not defined. It only applies to victims penetrated by their attacker’s sex act, and is not designed to criminalize sexual abuse of children.

Here are some important statutes relating the Act:

1. Section 3 of this act, explains Penetrative Sexual Assault. Elaborating in detail, if any person inserts anything in the Private part of a child or ask him/her to do so then it’s a crime.
2. Section 4 of POCSO Act explains Punishment for penetrative sexual assault – Whoever commits penetrative sexual assault shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than 7 years but which may extent to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine or both.
3. Section 6 of POCSO act explains Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault – Whoever, commits aggravated penetrative sexual assault, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 10 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine or both.
4. Section 7 of POCSO Act explains Sexual Assault– Whoever, with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person, or does any other act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration is said to commit sexual assault.”
5. Section 8 of POCSO Act explains Punishment for sexual assault– Whoever, commits sexual assault, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extent to five years, and shall also be liable to fine or both.

In a relatively recent case reported from a Kanpur village, a 10 year old boy was hospitalised after a minor girl tried to have forceful sexual activity with him. The incident took place in Kulhauli village of Bidhnu area when the 16 year old girl sweet-talked the boy from her neighbourhood into her house and tried to have sex with him. In the attempt, the boy sustained serious injuries in his private parts and started to bleed. While the boy was undergoing treatment at the Hallet hospital in Kanpur, police said they were perplexed as to under which legal provision shall the case be lodged. “Both the victim and the aggressor are minors, in this case and as a result lodging complaint has become difficult”, said SSP Kanpur Shalabh Mathur. Legal experts said that a case can be lodged under Section 8 of POCSO.

6. Section 11 of POCSO Act, deals with the Sexual Harassment. This section considers the following crimes:

• If a Person touches a child with a wrong intent,
• If a person shows the child a pornography.
• The Convict found under this section have a sentence of imprisonment up to 3 years.

7. Now, The Central Cabinet Approves the execution of rape convicts who rape the Girl below 12 Year of Age.

 

LANDMARK JUDGEMENTS AND CASES:

The Union cabinet has passed an ordinance to amend several provisions of the Indian Penal Code, POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Indian Evidence Act. This includes an amendment for death penalty for rape of children below 12 years. The announcement appears to follow a predictable pattern – when the government is on the back foot, announce ‘death penalty’ to appease the public. However, such a statement is a mere eye-wash for the government’s apathy in addressing core concerns of rape victims and the deplorable condition of the Special POCSO Courts in the country.

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Mahiwal and others who are taking cognizance for death penalty conveniently fail to acknowledge that the courts are already empowered to award death penalty to the accused in a gruesome rape and murder case, as it would fall within the ‘rarest of rare’ category. Even in the Delhi Gang Rape case, the accused were awarded death penalty under the then existing provisions of the Indian Penal Code, and not under the amended statute.

Such as there are some current cases that recently shook the country. As, it rightly said by the famous renowned Noble Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, that the child rape cases have become a National Emergency.

 

The Kathua Rape Case (Jammu and Kashmir): –

The Kathua rape case refers to the abduction, rape, and murder of an 8-year-old girl, Asifa Bano, in Rasana village near Kathua in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in January 2018. A chargesheet for the case has been filed, the accused have been arrested and the trial began in Kathua on 16 April 2018.The victim belonged to the nomad Bakarwal community. She disappeared for a week before her dead body was discovered by the villagers a kilometer away from the village. The incident made national news when charges were filed against eight men in April 2018. The arrests of the accused led to protests by the Panthers Party, along with other local groups. One of the protests, in support of the accused, was attended by two ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party, both of whom have now resigned. The rape and murder, as well as the support the accused received, sparked widespread outrage.

The trial for the Kathua murder and rape case began in Jammu and Kashmir on 16 April 2018 before the Principal Sessions Court judge, Kathua. The second hearing is scheduled for 28 April 2018. The Supreme Court have sought a response from the Jammu and Kashmir government regarding shifting the trial to Chandigarh by 27 April 2018. A demand by Bhim Singh, leader of the Panthers Party, for an independent inquiry by the CBI was heard and denied by the Supreme Court of India.

The Unnao Rape Case (Uttar Pradesh): –                    

Facts

The Unnao rape case refers to the alleged rape of a 17 year old girl on 4 June 2017. The main accused is Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh, and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The case is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The rape survivor attempted to immolate herself in front of the residence of Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, on 8 April 2018. Her father died in judicial custody shortly afterwards. These incidents led to the rape being widely reported in the national media. The Unnao rape case and the Kathua rape case received national attention during the same period, leading to joint protests seeking justice for both victims.

Arrests

Joint protests for the Unnao rape case and Kathua rape case at Parliament Street, New Delhi on 15 April 2018.

On 13 April 2018, Kul deep Sen agar was taken in by the CBI for questioning. Later in the day, on the basis of Allahabad High Court order, he was arrested and new First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered and sent for a week in judicial custody. A second arrest in the case was made on 14 April 2018 of Shashi Singh who allegedly took the survivor to the BJP MLA on the same day as the incident.

Protests

The incident made headlines in India in April 2018. The Kathua rape case made headlines during the same period, when charges were filed against the accused; the Kathua rape had occurred in January 2018.Joint protests were held across India demanding justice for both victims. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, issued a statement condemning the incidents, and stated that justice would take its course.

 

The Surat Rape Case: –

Three persons, including the main perpetrator, was involved in the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Surat have been arrested, which was so very horrifying the Gujarat government said on Friday. Minister of State for Home Pradeep Singh Jadeja told the media here that Gujarat Police arrested the key perpetrator from a village in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan, who will be brought to Gujarat. Earlier in the day, chief minister Vijay Rupani said that Surat Police had arrested three persons in the case. All accused are believed to be originally from Rajasthan. Police had found the body of the girl with over 86 injuries dumped in the bushes near Jeeav Road in Pandesara area of Surat on April 6. An autopsy revealed that she was brutally raped and tortured for days before her murder.

This case of rape was registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The Minister said that over 400 personnel of Surat police and Ahmedabad Crime Branch worked on the case. Police analysed the mobile data and CCTV footage from a 3-km radius of the spot from where the body was found. The case was finally cracked after police zeroed in on CCTV footage of a black car moving suspiciously in the area. Earlier, police suspected that the girl hailed from either Odisha, West Bengal or Jharkhand. An Andhra Pradesh man had come forward to claim the girl was his daughter. Surat police even carried out a DNA test to verify his claim. “On April 9, a woman’s decomposed body was found lying a few km from the spot where the girl was found dead. We believe she is the girl’s mother. We will carry out a DNA test,” as said by Jadeja.

But more problematic is the categorization of minors as ‘under 12’ and ‘over 12’.  By this the ministry seems to be endorsing the prejudicial view that children above 12 are likely to file false cases. Do girls above 12 years face less physical injury, mental trauma, social stigma and other consequences of rape? In our experience of providing socio-legal support to victims of sexual violence, it has become evident that the police, prosecutors, judges, media and general public are less trusting of adolescent girls – that they lie, indulge in consensual sex and file false cases. The categorization is based on a flawed notion of ‘consent’ and ‘agency’. Just by taking up some one or two cases our society judge or provide so easily a character certificate to a girl child that they will file fraud cases against themselves as once it was happened in the Mathura case where the girl who was involved in the consensual rape, just by taking into consent of that case one can’t define the symbolism of a girl that too who is a minor.

 

RTI Filing & Revert received: –

On April 28, a minor girl was reportedly molested by an Assistant Sub Inspector in an elevator in Kochi and a case was registered under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. However, the accused was only arrested three weeks later, on May 21.

On May 13, another police official  in Malappuram was suspended for failing to act promptly in a case of child abuse when a 60-year-old man sitting in a theatre was accused of sexually abusing a minor girl. The incident happened on April 18, and the people working in the theatre handed over the footage to the District Child line officials a day later, who immediately informed the police. However, the case was taken up only after a television channel aired the CCTV visuals.

The two recent incidents reveal how cases of child abuse are not taken seriously enough in Kerala.

An RTI filed by Advocate DB Binu revealed that 2,266 complaints related to child rights violations are left unresolved in the state between March 2013 and March 2018, as there was less attention paid to those cases which are being filed and left unresolved.

A breakdown of the numbers also shows that the pending cases are increasing every year.

• Four cases pending in 2014-15,
• In 2015-16, the number hiked to 56,
• In 2016-17, its shot up to 758
• In 2017-18, the number of cases pending is 1,448.

The RTI further revealed that out of the 7,484 cases registered in the Commission since its formation, only 5,128 have been resolved. Thus, Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital, tops the list with 1677 cases registered and 540 cases left unresolved. Meanwhile there are 248 cases left unresolved in Kollam district and 171 in Ernakulum district.

Binu alleged that the Commission is not functioning properly and that the Governor should intervene immediately. “The Commission’s acting chairman is drawing a salary of around Rs 1,77,000. And the other four members are drawing salary ranging between Rs 1,25,000 and Rs 1,77,000. This is a white elephant for the state,” Binu said.

The Commission’s Acting Chairman, too, admitted that the number of cases of child abuse were high. “We are getting more such complaints from Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Kollam and Malappuram because people there are more aware about children’s rights and come forward with complaints,” CJ Antony, the Acting Commission Chairman, was quoted as saying.

 

Research conducted on this Issue: –

The Delhi High Court on Monday questioned why the ordinance on amending the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, to provide for death penalty to those convicted of raping a child up to 12 years old, was cleared without conducting any research on the issue. The observation by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar came while dealing with a plea seeking to strike down the amendments made in the rape law post the December 16, 2012 Delhi gang rape incident here as they are “being abused”.

Asking if any study or research was conducted while clearing the ordinance on POCSO, the court observed that it seemed to come after people started demanding strict punishment against the rapists of minors. It said that the ordinance is also silent on granting welfare to the rape victims and does not deal with issues related to educating and sensitizing youth and juveniles on sexual offences against women, especially minors.

On Sunday President Ram Nath Kovind approved an ordinance to provide death penalty for those convicted of raping girls younger than 12 years besides clearing another ordinance to confiscate property of fugitive economic offenders. The President promulgated The Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018, approved by the Cabinet on Saturday, that seeks to provide effective deterrence against rape and instill a sense of security among women, particularly young girls. The ordinance amends the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Evidence Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The ordinance comes against the backdrop of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, the rape of a teenager in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh and similar crimes in other parts of the country. The court, hearing a plea filed by academician Madhu Purnima Kishwar, listed the matter for September. Kishwar’s plea has sought striking down of some of the provisions of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which provides for amendments to the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act and Code of Criminal Procedure on laws related to sexual offences.

After the gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on December 16, 2012, a committee under the chairmanship of a retired Supreme Court judge was constituted to suggest amendments to the criminal law to sternly deal with sexual assault cases.

Will death penalty anyhow change the deep rooted patriarchal acceptance that the man of the family has complete sexual access to the bodies of women in this house whom he financially supports, whereas an outsider must be sentenced to death for committing the same act, since that is ‘worse than death’? this question just hovers around a person mind that whether death penalty can sort out the seed of crime which is being sown by the perpetrators of the society.

The POCSO Act already provides for appointment of special courts and special public prosecutors. According to the proposed ordinance, new fast track courts are to be set-up. Where are these sensitive and efficient judges and public prosecutors going to suddenly appear from? It has been more than 5 years since the enactment of the POCSO Act, but most special courts do not even have a basic screen between the victim and the accused, waiting area, separate entrance and other basic infrastructural requirements for recording the evidence of a victim.  But one thing that is been done good after the enactment has been made is that the proposed ordinance also reduces time limits for investigation and trial without providing any concrete institutional support. Moreover, there has been substantial change after the amendment of this act, as there has been increase in reporting of the cases that is been noticed, and it is expected that immediate action is to be taken by the courts for the speedy disposal.

Thus, lack of faith in the justice system, family and societal and other peer pressure, financial constraints and an insensitive criminal justice system are some of the hurdles faced by victims while reporting. It is being assumed that Death penalty will be an added burden.

Finally, according to the Death Penalty Research Project by National Law University, Delhi, 24.5% of prisoners on death row are Dalits and Adivasis and 20.7% are from religious minorities. This leads us to the question – who will our courts actually award the death sentence to? More likely to the poor and marginalized youth from Dalit, adivasi and Muslim communities, who are already the backward section of the society. But are we really doing good by awarding death penalty to the accused, will it really wipe out the whole of the junk from the society or is it the problem mainly with the mindset of the people that is to be changed from the inner core, these question will always be left unanswered if there is no security provided for the future generation…. “CHILD”.

 

 

REFERENCES: –

1. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/temple-at-centre-of-tragedy-no-one-coming-to-mandir-for-days-now/articleshow/63753432.cms
2. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/kathua-case-charges-of-rape-and-murder-framed-against-7-accused/articleshow/64497229.cms
3. https://thehindu.sexualharrasmentcase
4. Outlook magazine
5. Indian penal code, 1860 Bare act
6. POCSO Act, 2012 Bare act

 

About Author:

Soumyadipa Banik prepared this research report during her internship with Legal Desire.

She is final year student of law at Calcutta University as on July 2018.