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3. Health and Child Sexual Abuse

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3. Health and Child Sexual Abuse Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2 Objectives .................................................................................................................................... 4 Session Wise Summary of the Event ........................................................................................... 5 Day One: Session – 1: Inaugural Session: ........................................................................................ 5 Day One: Session – 2: Intersectionality and Vulnerability to CSA: ................................................ 11 Day One: Session – 3: Recommendations Based on Empirical Studies: ........................................ 16 Day One: Session - 4: Implementation of the POCSO Act ........................................................... 24 Day One: Session - 5: The POCSO Act - Perspectives from the Judiciary .................................... 29 Day Two: Session - 1: Litigating POCSO ...................................................................................... 31 Day Two: Session - 2: Health and Child Sexual Abuse .................................................................. 38 Day Two: Session - 3: The Rehabilitation and Restorative Care .................................................... 44 Recommendations Based on the Issues Raised in the Two-Day Consultation Event ............ 48 1. Support and Protection of Children from Sexual Abuse. ....................................................... 48 2. Pre-trial and Trial Stage ......................................................................................................... 49 3. Health and Child Sexual Abuse ............................................................................................. 51 4. Ambiguities in the Letter of Law ........................................................................................... 52 5. Overall Remarks & Suggestions............................................................................................. 53 Recommendations for Amendments in law and Executive Measures – A Practical Approach ................................................................................................................................................... 55 Recommendations for bringing Amendments in Law ................................................................... 55 Recommendations for Bringing Change Through Executive Action ............................................. 58 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 62 1 Introduction In 2012, the Parliament of India enacted the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (“POCSO Act”) to protect our children from the increasing prevalence of child sexual abuse and to provide a child-friendly system for trial of the offences. However, over the past few years, various lacunae in the implementation of this Act has become apparent, e.g. low conviction rates and pendency of cases. As per the information collated by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (“NCPCR”), 45,498 cases have been registered under the POCSO Act, 2012 between November, 2012 to March, 2015. Out of this, 4316 cases are pending with the State Police for investigation and 35,700 cases are pending before Courts for trial. The overall conviction rate of cases registered under POCSO rests meagrely between 7-16%. In light of these lacunae, the National Coalition to Protect Our Children (convened by Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament) organised a two-day National Consultation on the POCSO Act at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore on February 04 and 05, 2017. The event was facilitated by Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU. The representations in the event were from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India; National Commission for Protection of Child Rights; Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights; Karnataka Commission for Protection of Child Rights; Delhi Legal Services Authority; Karnataka Legal Services Authority; Majlis Legal Centre; Bachpan Bachao Andolan; Tulir; Rahi Foundation; SCAN Goa, HAQ Centre for Child Rights; CCL – NLSIU; CCR - NUJS; Aarambh India Initiative; Enfold India Trust; Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre; Enfold Proactive Health Trust; National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences; representatives from Ramaiah Hospital; The Foundation; Enfold; Faith Foundation; UNICEF; Counsel to Secure Justice, Delhi; Child Welfare Committee; former and acting judges of Special courts and city civil courts of Assam, Mumbai, Bengaluru and others; Special Public Prosecutors; Amicus Curiae; and Advocates working in the field of child rights. The influencers met on one platform and discussed the ways in which problems of child sexual abuse can be addressed and pointed at the apathy of authorities responsible for the implementation of the POCSO Act. The purpose of holding of the two day POCSO Consultation is to provide a platform for stakeholders – the judiciary, lawyers, medical professionals, social workers and support 2 persons, to share experiences, to voice concerns and suggest required legal changes, and share best practices in making effective use of the POCSO Act; to identify and define issues and gaps in the legal provisions as well as the implementation of the POCSO Act; to formulate recommendations for amendments to the POCSO Act; to formulate recommendations for improved mechanisms for effectively implementing the POCSO Act; and to address the issue of overlapping vulnerabilities and account for intersectionality in the institutional response to cases of child sexual abuse. Crimes against children are the worst forms of cruelty, especially because they violate the basic trust and care that a child expects from an adult. Concerned over the growing danger of abuse to young children and lack of child safety in India, National Coalition to Protect Our Children (“NCPOC”) invited people from different spheres who gathered in the two-day consultation programme on Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act, 2012 to discuss about how to create safe environments for children and for those who have been victimised. A three-pronged approach to tackling the malaise of Child Sexual Abuse, through increasing Accountability, bolstering mechanisms for Prevention, and ensuring swifter Prosecution is the need of the hour. To achieve this purpose, the two-day event was held in NLSIU, Bengaluru. 3 Objectives Daily news is rife with stories of children being neglected and abused. Lakhs of children are robbed of childhood and our nation is doing little to remedy that. While government now acknowledges education and nutrition as essential entitlements of children, there have been little initiatives for protection of their most fundamental right- their safety. Child protection needs to be on the nation’s radar. To achieve this purpose, over 40 experts from more than 10 states in India including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, Maharashtra, Delhi and Goa gathered along with judges of the special courts under POCSO Act, the chairperson of the NCPCR and the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India gathered at the two-day consultation event. The hon’ble members deliberated over the two-day Consultation on The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, with the following objectives in mind: 1. Recommend Amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012; 2. Recommend Best Practices that stakeholders involved in the Child Sexual Abuse (“CSA”) response - police, medical personnel, forensic experts, investigating officers, social workers, lawyers, judiciary, can adopt to improve their interventions; 3. Recommend to the state and central Governments to recognize CSA as a priority and improve their response to the malaise; and 4. Give true meaning to child friendly mechanisms for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences, trial in-camera and without revealing the identity of the child through designated Special Courts and the amount of compensation to be paid to a child who has been sexually abused, so that this money can then be used for the child's medical treatment and rehabilitation. With the above objectives as priority, the members met and deliberated upon the issues of child rights. 4 Session Wise Summary of the Event This section covers the issues and recommendations elaborately discussed by the participants of the Consultation event in each session of the two-day consultation programme. It becomes pertinent to understand the background in which the opinion of the speakers is based. DAY ONE Day One: Session – 1: Inaugural Session: 1.1 Speakers: A. Ms. Flavia Agnes, founder of Majlis, a Mumbai-based women’s rights organisation. B. Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. C. Ms. Rashmi Sahni Saxena, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India 1.2 The start of the two-day event was with a welcome address by Professor V.S. Elizabeth which was then followed by a speech from Ms. Flavia Agnes and Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar. The event was divided into eight sessions which discussed intersectionality and vulnerability to CSA, detailed empirical studies of several states like Mumbai,
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