Amend laws to try those above 16 years in POCSO cases: Parliamentary Panel

The government should explore the possibility of reducing the age limit of offenders considered as adults under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act from 18 years to 16 years, a Parliamentary panel has said as it felt that "minor sexual offenders may commit more serious and heinous crime if left untreated/uncounselled".

The panel also wanted the government to take stringent action against police personnel and complainant filing false cases of crime against women and children and suggested that laws should be amended, if needed, to add stringent provisions to tackle the menace.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs led by senior Congress MP Anand Sharma said it was "very important to relook" at POCSO provisions because more and more juveniles are getting involved in such crimes.

Also read — Every day 4 child victims of sexual abuse denied justice due to insufficient evidence: Study

At present, only those who are above 16 years can be tried only if they are charged with heinous crimes such as murder or rape.

The latest government figures showed that the numbers of cases registered under the POCSO Act have increased from 32,608 in 2017 to 39,827 in 2018 and 47,325 in 2019. The data showed that there has been an increase of around 18 per cent in 2019 compared to 2018.

The Committee "recommends that the MHA may take up with Ministry of Women and Child Development to review the current age limit of 18 years and see if it can be reduced to 16 years for the applicability of the POCSO Act, 2012," the panel said in its report 'Atrocities Against Women and Children'.

The report said the Tamil Nadu government referred to some difficulties in the implementation of the POCSO Act in some cases. "There have been instances where a girl below 18 years of age marries a boy of above 18 years with consent. But, when a complaint is made by a girl's family, the boy gets arrested under POCSO's child marriage etc. This becomes a very complex issue and these kinds of cases are in large numbers accounting for more than 40 per cent of the cases," it said.

Also read — Molestation case: Child knows good touch, bad touch, says POCSO court

It also expressed concern over the non-registration of cases of crimes against women and children, saying it was one of the main reasons for delay and denial of justice to the victim and family.

Appreciating the initiative taken by the Rajasthan Police for conducting decoy operations to check whether FIRs are being registered at police stations or not, the panel said that such decoy operations should be conducted at regular intervals throughout the country. "This will create alertness amongst ground-level police officials and will lead to the registration of more cases. The Committee also recommends developing and promoting online registration of FIR for different categories of complaints particularly, for the crimes committed against women and children," it said.

Concerned over the tendency of registration of false cases and misuse of laws, the panel said appropriate penal action should be taken by fixing accountability of the police personnel who have registered false cases. "At the same time, those individuals who register false cases must not get off scot-free," it added.

The Committee recommended that the MHA should advise states to take strict actions against the Police personnel and individuals who have registered false cases.

The MHA should take up the matter with the Ministry of Law and Justice and if need be, laws should be amended to add stringent provisions against false cases.