Lok Sabha Question No. 3065 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-06
Subject: Child in Sexual Violence Trade
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: P.R. Natarajan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3065

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.12.2019

## CHILD IN SEXUAL VIOLENCE TRADE

## 3065. SHRI NATARAJAN P.R.:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  commercial  sexual  exploitation  of children in India;
- (b) if so, the details of such children as on date, State-wise;
- (c) the mechanisms available towards ensuring accountability of the perpetrators of crimes such as sexual violence of children; and
- (d) the measures taken by the Government to ensure safety of such child victims from being commercially exploited by the sex traders?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a)  &  (b)  As  informed  by  National  Crime  Record  Bureau  (NCRB),  no  information  is available in this regard.

(c) The  Government  of  India  has  implemented  the  Protection  of  Children  from Sexual  Offences  (POCSO)  Act,  2012  which  is  a  comprehensive  law  that  provides protection  to  children  from  the  offences  of  sexual  assault,  sexual  harassment  and pornography.  The  Act  provides  mandatory  reporting,  child  friendly  provisions  of recording  of  statement  and  evidence  and  speedy  trial  of  the  cases.  Recently,  the POCSO Act  has  been  amended  in  order  to  make  it  more  effective  in  dealing  with cases of child sex abuse in the country. It addresses the need for stringent measures to deter the rising trend of child sex abuse in the country on one hand and the menace of relatively new kind of crimes on the other hand.

Besides,  the  Government  of  India  has  taken  following  initiatives  for  preventing cases of crimes against children:

- i. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 was enacted for effective deterrence against sexual offences.  Further,  the  Criminal  Law  (Amendment) Act,  2018  was  enacted  to  prescribe  even  more  stringent  penal  provisions including death penalty for rape of a girl below age of 12 years. The Act also inter-alia  mandates  completion  of  investigation  and  trials  within  2  months each.
- ii. A  'National  Database  on  Sexual  Offenders'  has  been  launched  on  20 th September,  2018  to  facilitate  investigation  and  tracking  of  sexual  offenders across the country by law enforcement agencies.
- iii. An  online  analytic  tool  for  police  called  'Investigation  Tracking  System  for Sexual Offences' has been launched on 19.02.2019 to monitor and track timebound investigation on sexual assault cases in accordance with the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018.
- iv. In  order  to  improve  investigation,  steps  have been taken to strengthen DNA analysis  units  in  Central  and  State  Forensic  Science  Laboratories.  This includes setting up of a State-of-the-Art DNA Analysis Unit in Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh.
- v. Guidelines  have  been  notified  for  collection  of  forensic  evidence  in  sexual assault  cases  and  the  standard  composition  in  a  Sexual  Assault  Evidence Collection Kit. A total number of 6023 officers have been trained by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) and Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science. BPR&D has distributed 3,120 Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kits to State Governments/ UT Administration, as orientation kit, as part of training.
- vi. A  scheme  namely  Cyber  Crime  Prevention  against  Women  and  Children (CCPWC)  has  been  approved  under  which  an  online  cybercrime  reporting portal  (www.cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched on 20 th September, 2018 to  enable  public  to  report  complaints  pertaining  to  child  pornography/  child sexual abuse material, rape/gang rape imageries or sexually explicit content.

(d)        'Police'  is  a  State  subject  under  the  Seventh Schedule  to  the  Constitution of India  and  as  such  prevention  of  the  crime  of  human  trafficking  and  crime  against children  is  the  responsibility  of  State  Governments.  However,  the  Government  of India has been supplementing the efforts of the State Governments by taking various initiatives and measures. The Government of India has provided financial assistance to  all  States  for  setting  up  of  Anti-Human  Trafficking  Units  and  332  Anti-Human Trafficking Units have been set-up in various districts of the State. The Government of  India  also  provides  financial  assistance  to  the  States  and  judicial  academies  in States to hold 'Judicial Colloquiums' and ' State level conference' to sensitize police officials, judicial officers and prosecutors about various provisions of law relevant to trafficking  and  their  role  in  curbing  trafficking.  The  Government  of  India  has  also issued  various  advisories  to  the  State  Governments  and  UT  Administrations,  from time to time, on preventing and combating human trafficking. Through the National Investigation Agencies (Amendment) Act, 2019, the Schedule of NIA Act, 2008 has been amended  and  National Investigation Agency has been empowered  to investigate the cases committed under Section 370 and 370A of Indian Penal Code relating to Human Trafficking.

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