POCSO strengthened, death for child rape approved

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said children should be protected from sexual offences and the Cabinet has approved amendments to various sections of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to achieve this. Addressing mediapersons here after a Cabinet meeting, Prasad said the amendments to sections 4, 5, 6, 9, 14, 15 and 42 of the POCSO Act, 2012, are made to address child sexual abuse in an appropriate manner.

An official statement said sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Act are proposed to be amended to provide the option of stringent punishment, including the death penalty, for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child. It said these amendments are aimed at discouraging the trend of child sexual abuse by acting as a deterrent. It said these amendments are aimed at discouraging the trend of child sexual abuse by acting as a deterrent.

“Penal provisions have been made more stringent for storing/possessing any pornographic material in any form involving a child for commercial purpose,” the official statement said.

Prasad said, “The modification is made to address the need for stringent measures required to deter the rising trend of child sex abuse in the country.”

Earlier in April, the government had issued an ordinance to provide for the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below 12 years of age and life term for raping a girl below 16 following the outrage over the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and similar crimes in other parts of the country. The government said the amendment is expected to discourage the trend of child sexual abuse by acting as a deterrent due to the strong penal provisions incorporatedin the Act.