In 2007, the Indian government conducted a survey in 13 different states to understand the status of reporting sexual offences. This study was first of its kind, and revealed that out of 12,500 victims of abuse who were children, 25% ever told anyone and only 3% informed the police. This called for the need of a cogent system that mandates reporting of such crimes.
Abuse has been defined as treating another individual with cruelty or violence, often over a long period of time. Abuse can be of different types: physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual. Being an abuse survivor may cause severe trauma to an individual. This may also create a sense of hesitation, guilt and embarrassment while reporting the incident of crime. A research study done in the United States revealed that survivors of sexual assault are prone to long term emotional turbulences. Such traumatic incidents with children may cause an unprecedented amount of trauma and may also lead to cognitive delays, disrupted attachment patterns and social difficulties. This can make reporting of the crime that much harder. However, reporting the crime is an imperative step to initiate the investigation into the crime.
One important law that came into force in 2012, concerning sexual abuse against children in India was the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), with many amendemnts introduced in 2019. This act was introduced keeping in mind two basic tenants: to protect children from sexual offences and establish special courts for speedy and sensitive handling of such cases, and to impose strict action against offenders of child sexual abuse. A notable feature of this act is that it remains gender neutral, and addresses the issue of sexual abuse against children, no matter what their gender and/or sex is. The POCSO Act was enacted to address criminalising a range of acts including child rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography involving a child (under 18 years of age).
The POCSO Act makes it mandatory for any and all stakeholders/guardians or any individuals concerned who come to know of such abuse to report the case to the concerned authority. Section 20 of this act states that “any personnel of the concerned facilities, shall, on coming across any material or object which is sexually exploitative of the child, including pornography, or obscene representation of a child through the use of any medium, shall provide such information to the Special Juvenile Police Unit, or to the local police.” Failure to report also poses punishment under section 21 of the act.
This act has also made significant effort to ease the process of yielding statements from children victims, and take on a more sensitive approach. Section 36 of the act states that the child is not to be in presence of the offender while testifying. This might enable relatively less traumatic experience while testifying. The act also provides for the child to seek assistance by a mental health professional, social worker, non-government organisations, and child development professional under section 39, to enable restoration of the child’s psychological and overall well-being.
However, despite adequate provisions on paper, many research studies have claimed a different reality on ground. In a 2014 study conducted by Arpan, an Indian non-profit organisation, out of 64 participants, 24 said that they agreed that reporting sexual abuse of children should be mandatory, but the remaining 40 stated that they were uncomfortable with the idea of reporting. They attributed this to a lack of coherent social support system, and also stated that the police personnel did not seem to understand the sensitivity of child sexual abuse. Some did not feel that they had access to a strong social support system, whereas others claimed to have repressed memories of the abusive incident.
A report by the National Crime Record Bureau in 2018 states that 109 children are sexually abused every day in India. In 2007, the Ministry of Women and Child Development conducted a survey that recorded responses from more than 17,000 children across 13 Indian states. Despite the increase in the number of reported cases of child rape and a comprehensive law, the conviction rate is unchanged since 2012 at 28.2%. This steady rate indicates towards the challenges of the law. One such challenge is the provision of designating a special court for such cases. The act states that governments in consultation with the chief justice of the high court should designate a sessions court as a special court for speedy trials. However, the same act goes on to state that if a session’s court was previously notified as a children’s court under the commission of protection of child rights act, or any other court functioning in a similar manner may also be considered as a special court under the POCSO Act.
Another challenge to the POCSO Act is the lack of expertise in dealing with matters related to abuse. It has been observed that the judges and/or other individuals involved in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse do not recieve any special training to engage with victims of child sexual abuse and other concerned stakeholders. One such example is the case of a 16-year-old minor girl in a case registered under the POCSO Act in Thane, Mumbai. She had been allegedly subjected to rape. It was observed that her trial cross-questioned her similar to the manner in which the accused are questioned.
Another challenge posed by this act is brought to light by psychologists and doctors. They claim that the very fact that disclosing an abusive incident to the psychologist may lead them to carry out legal reporting procedures can be threatening for the victim due to the social stigma attached to such incidents. The provisions mentioned in the act are often only limited to the period of trial. One method to undertake and enable a more sensitive approach towards handling and management of victims with abuse, while sustaining the role of an authority figure such as police personnel, judges, advocates etc, can be sensitivity training. Sensitivity training of the concerned individuals, especially first responding offers can perhaps be helpful in better understanding of the victim’s state of mind, and extending them empathy. It may also be helpful in setting ground rules and steps of what must be done when addressing a victim of abuse.
Bhavyaa Sehgal
