H.R. Umesh Aradhya, chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, has said that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, has several provisions that cover many aspects of sexual offences against children.
The police arrested a skating instructor on Sunday on the charge of raping a six-year-old girl at a school at Marathahalli on July 3.
Those in the management or staff of an educational institution or religious institution come under the purview of the Act. It also covers the use of digital media in such cases. This gains credence in this case because, according to the police, child pornography was found in the laptop of the accused.
According to Section C of the Act, a person is said to commit sexual harassment on a child when he/she “repeatedly or constantly follows or watches or contacts a child either directly or through electronic, digital or any other means, and entices a child for pornographic purposes or gratification.”
Pornography has been covered under the Act, which includes “whoever uses a child in any form of media for the purposes of sexual gratification.”
Creating awareness remains a priority, Mr. Aradhya said, and added that judges, police personnel and mediapersons would be roped in for the awareness drive.
According to statistics presented by the Union government in the Rajya Sabha recently, Karnataka recorded a rise in the number of cases of child rape — from 97 in 2011, 142 in 2012 to 270 in 2013. But the conviction rate remains bleak — from 21 per cent in 2011, to 11 per cent in 2013.
