Lok Sabha passes bill to protect kids from sexual abuse



New Delhi: Parliament on Tuesday approved a bill to protect children below 18 from sexual abuse, set up special courts for speedy trial of cases against them and provide stringent punishment extending up to life term for offenders.

"The bill is gender neutral. It seeks to protect children from sexual offences...The burden of proof will be on the accused," Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said winding up the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011.

The bill, which was earlier cleared by Rajya Sabha, was approved by the Lower House by voice vote today. Tirath said all below 18 years would be treated as child and efforts have been made to keep provisions of the bill child-friendly. It contains provisions for in-camera trial of offences, she said.


Dismissing concerns over misuse of the law, Tirath said, provisions have also been made to deal with offences of false complaints.

The bill found support from all sections of the House, although some members raised the issue of possible misuse of the stringent law.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Invitation to interactive session - Safe Schools: Supporting schools address child sexual abuse, holistically

When you know better,  you do better   - Maya Angelou Protecting children is no longer an option – it is a responsibility vested in each one of us.  And schools are at the front line of child protection w ith a large part of the truly "awake" time of a child's waking hours being spent at school. N eedless to state the school and the community of educators are one of the most significant aspects of a child's  world and we also know that educators care for their students and their welfare and safety at all times. A school’s integrity and worth is not based on whether cases of  sexual  violence  happen to children on its rolls. Instead it is based on the acceptance of the possibilities of  occurrence and preemptive steps taken to  both safeguard and respond in a timely and appropriate way to ensure that its children may benefit from its caring and foresight to truly have the right to be safe all the time, ...
Read more

Nov. 19 - World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse

Image
Alerting Governments and civil society organizations to play a more active role in the promotion of and respect for the rights of the child (article 19 and 34 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child), and contribute to the prevention of child abuse, WWSF (www.woman.ch) launched in 2000 the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse, a Day to be commemorated every 19 November in synergy with the anniversary of the International Day for the rights of the child (20 November) which has as its objective to be a rallying point around the issue of child abuse and the need for urgent effective prevention programs. The World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse is a process for the emergence of a culture of prevention around the issue of violence against girls and boys. Alerting Governments, civil society organizations and concerned citizens to play a more active role in the respect, promotion and fulfillment of rights of all children and contribute to the prevention of violence against children...
Read more