Child abuse on the rise, punishment no deterrent

Satya Prakash in New Delhi

A Pathankot court’s verdict holding three men guilty of gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir 18 months ago has brought the issue of crime against children to the fore. The trio — Sanji Ram, Parvesh Kumar and Special Police Officer Deepak Khajuria —were convicted of murder, kidnapping, gangrape, destruction of evidence and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Pathankot District and Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh also held three other accused — Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta, Head Constable Tilak Raj and Special Police Officer Surender Verma —  guilty of the destruction of evidence and awarded them five-year imprisonment.

However, the court acquitted accused Sanji Ram’s son Vishal Jangotra, while the eighth accused, a juvenile, is being tried in Kathua. “Perpetrators of the crime have acted in such a manner as if a law of the jungle prevailed. Heaven and hell are not geographical locations. Our thoughts, actions and character create a situation of heaven or hell for us. Needless to say, the commission of this devilish and monstrous crime has sent shock waves across the society which means the guilty need to be brought under the sword of justice”, said the trial judge.

Not an isolated incident

The Kathua incident is not an isolated crime. Rather it’s part of a larger malaise afflicting the Indian society as children are being brutalized across the country. Just a few days ago, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl was murdered in Aligarh. Her decomposed body was found in a garbage dump three days after she went missing. In April 2018, a four-month-old baby was raped and murdered in Rajwada area of Indore.

Many such crimes are being committed by juveniles. Last year, a 13-year-old boy allegedly raped a nine-year-old girl at his home in Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh. An 11-year-old girl was raped and burnt alive in Nagaon district in Assam in 2018. Two of the three accused arrested by the police were minors. 

According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the number of crimes against children is rising. While a total of 89,423 crimes against children under Indian Penal Code, local and special laws were reported across India in 2014, the figure jumped to 94,172 in 2015 and reached 1,06,958 in 2016. Around 1,700 children were murdered in 2016, while the number of infanticide and foeticide stood at 93 and 144, respectively. More than 800 children were abandoned.

The NCRB figures are testimony to the fact that violence against children is common in India. According to Amod Kanth, a former Goa Director General of Police and founder of Prayas — an NGO which works with vulnerable children — 52 per cent of children are sexually abused in one form or the other. “It means every second child is being abused. That’s quite an alarming situation,” says Kanth.

But the number of kidnapping and abduction of children has assumed alarming proportions. In 2016, kidnapping and abduction of children reported by NCRB stood at a staggering 56,300 cases. Of these, 16,695 girls were kidnapped/abducted to compel them for marriage.

POCSO Act, 2012

There were 36,321 cases, including 19,920 cases of child rape, registered in 2016 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. It says every crime of child sexual abuse should mandatorily be reported. Any person having information of child abuse can face imprisonment up to six months or may be fined or both, if he/she fails to report it.

The Act seeks to put children first by making it easy to use by including mechanisms for child-friendly reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences through designated special courts. It treats penetration other than penile-vaginal as rape and criminalises acts of immodesty against children and attempts to make the process of trial easier for children. A gender-neutral Act, it criminalises even watching or collection of pornographic content involving children and also makes abetment of child sexual abuse an offence.

Now, Act prescribes death for rape

After the Kathua rape case, the POCSO Act was amended to prescribe death penalty for rape against children below 12 years of age. But despite a stringent law like POCSO, crime against children is witnessing a steady rise. Asked about the possible ways to deal with the situation, Kanth says, “There is a need for constant vigil. You can’t leave children unattended. This is important because often the perpetrators are family members and relatives. Many cases of child sexual abuse are not reported because the offender happens to be a family member.”

 The December 16, 2012 gangrape triggered public outrage and led to a massive campaign for women’s safety and change in rape laws. The government was forced to set up a panel to “look into possible amendments of the criminal law to provide for quicker trials and enhanced punishment for criminals committing criminal assault of extreme nature against women”.

Headed by former Chief Justice of India, JS Verma, the panel recommended wide-ranging changes in rape laws, besides other systemic changes to deal with crimes against women. Parliament enacted the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, widening the definition of rape and also provided for death penalty in rape cases that cause death of the victim or leave her in a vegetative state. 

The then CJI, Altamas Kabir, had asked high courts to fast-track cases related to crimes against women. Six special courts were set up in Delhi to exclusively try cases of sexual offence against women. The Delhi High Court ordered the Union Home Ministry to increase the number of police control room (PCR) vans in Delhi for stricter patrolling to ensure better safety for women. The Nirbhaya case also resulted in police crackdown on vehicles’ tinted glasses.

Activism does play role

Be it Nirbhaya case or the Kathua gangrape case — public outrage appears to have played an important role in expediting the investigation and trial. Even the 1996 Priyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder case was taken up by the Delhi High Court out of turn following a public outcry against the acquittal of Santosh Singh. The High Court handed him a death penalty, which was commuted to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court. In the Kathua case, such role was played by senior counsel Indira Jaising and some of her associates.

High acquittal rate in crime against children

According to NCRB report, there were 1,64,387 cases of crime against children pending trial at the end of 2015. The rate of conviction stood at mere 30 per cent, which means 70 per cent of those who target children go scot-free. In May 2016, the Delhi Police had told the Delhi High Court that over 80 per cent cases of crime against children, women and elderly decided by the High Court and over 60 per cent of similar cases decided by sessions courts in the capital had led to the acquittal of the accused in the past five years.

So what’s the way out? Former Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand says besides training policemen and doctors in collection of forensic evidence, the number of forensic labs has to be increased. Often forensic reports are delayed, resulting into adverse impact on the outcome of the case.

But in any case, both the police and the judiciary need to be made gender sensitive to handle such cases, says Chand.

Ground situation hasn’t changed much

Despite changes in laws and intervention by activists, the situation on the ground hasn’t changed much. Former Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand says it’s because of the fact that the initial responders, the lower level police officials, who reach the scene of crime are not adequately trained.

“It’s important to preserve the crime scene because in most of such cases, there are no eye witnesses. But unfortunately the policemen who initially respond to the crime are not well-trained in collecting and preserving forensic evidence,” he said. “Even doctors who collect forensic evidence are often found to be lacking in the skills needed to deal with rape cases. The result is loss of evidence.”

Kathua Gangrape Case: Fact Sheet

• According to police charge sheet, the eight-year-old girl was kidnapped on January 10, 2018
• She was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district after having been sedated for four days before being killed
• Her body was found on January 17, 2018. Autopsy confirmed gang-rape and murder
• On May 7, 2018, the Supreme Court transferred the case from Jammu and Kashmir to a sessions court in Pathankot, Punjab, and ordered protection for witnesses, accused, victims’ family and their lawyers
• Hearing began in Pathankot on May 30, 2018, and went on for 247 days. Arguments finally concluded on June 3, 2019
• Some 114 prosecution and 18 defence witnesses were examined
• In all, 74 lawyers appeared in the case — 57 for defence and the rest for prosecution
• The case hit international headlines as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned it as a “horrific” crime
• Main accused Vishal Jangotra was acquitted as he was away at his college in Meerut at the time of crime
• Three accused -- Sanji Ram, Parvesh Kumar and Special Police Officer Deepak Khajuria —  were convicted of murder, kidnapping, gang-rape, destruction of evidence and drugging the victim. All three were awarded life imprisonment
• Three other accused -- Sub Inspector Anand Dutta, Head Constable Tilak Raj and Special Police Officer Surender Verma — were held guilty of the destruction of evidence and awarded five-year imprisonment
• The eighth accused -- a juvenile -- is being tried in Kathua