Chief Justice of India cautions on net child sex abuse

Chennai: Stringent legislation is the need of the hour to penalise child sexual abuse via the Internet, said Chief Justice of India, Justice P. Sathasivam.

Inaugurating a meeting in Chennai on Saturday, he said child sexual abuse through the Internet was a recent phenomenon and has increased rapidly since the beginning of the 21st century following its easy access to all.

Under section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the publication and transmission of pornography through the Internet was made an offence. However, the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, (Posco) 2012 makes no reference to this.

“In my considered view, the scope of child sexual abuse through the Internet will amplify in the coming years and we require stringent provisions to penalise the same,” he added. Nowadays, Internet access is available on mobile phones, which may also make the children an easy prey in sexual offences.

Justice Sathasivam said children are fascinated by the Internet: it is a world of opportunity for creativity and growth. The last thing we want is to keep them away from it or leave them in an unsafe space.

“I am convinced that we can create a better regulated Internet service, where we do not have to choose among education, safety or fun. We can have all these three aspects if we accept that protection of children is a shared responsibility of parents, teachers, IT industries, child welfare organisations, judiciary and police,” he said.

Child sexual abuse cases are among the least prosecuted crimes in the country, said Chief Justice of India, Justice P. Sathasivam. Inaugurating the two-day southern regional conference on ‘Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Posco Act, 2012)’, in Chennai on Saturday, Justice Sathasivam said though we had enacted good legislation, experience shows that implementation stalled attempts to improve the protection of children in India.

In an effort to address child sexual abuse issues, the Posco Act, 2012 was introduced. The Act exclusively addre­sses issues of child sexual abuse and purports to protect persons below the age of 18 years from offences such as sexual assault, sexual harassment and child pornography and punishment for offences committed under the Act.

The judge ensures a child-friendly atmosphere while recording evidence and ensures that the child is not called repeatedly to testify in court. To minimise psychological trauma of the victim, testifying may be videotaped and this can be passed to other agencies involved in prosecution, he added.

The Supreme Court had directed the states to set up designated special courts under the Posco Act at the earliest. The interest of children will be at jeopardy if child sexual abuse was not dealt with appropriately.

Thus, judicial officers, public prosecutors, the investigating team comprising police, medico forensic, state legal service authorities and juvenile justice boards must work together for furthering the interest of children and towards conviction.

The Chief Justice of Madras high court, Justice R.K. Agrawal, Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh high court, Justice Kalyan Jyothi Sengupta, and Justice Chitra Venkataraman addre­ssed the gathering. Judicial officers from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu participated in the conference.