Suggesting the state to bring a legislation to impose stringent punishment in cases where family members commit offences of sexual assault, especially on children, Madras high court dismissed an appeal by a man challenging the life imprisonment imposed on him by the trial court for sexually assaulting and impregnating his minor stepdaughter in Pudukottai district.

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Madras High Court for tougher laws against child sexual abuse by kin
Kaushik Kannan / Nov 28, 2024, 22:52 IST

Madurai: Suggesting the state to bring a legislation to impose stringent punishment in cases where family members commit offences of sexual assault, especially on children, Madras high court dismissed an appeal by a man challenging the life imprisonment imposed on him by the trial court for sexually assaulting and impregnating his minor stepdaughter in Pudukottai district.

The court also issued a set of directions to the state and the child welfare committee to protect children from sexual offences.
A division bench of justice G R Swaminathan and justice R Poornima observed that as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, in 96% of such cases, the abuser was known to the child. The NCRB data on offenders’ relation to child victims of the Pocso Act revealed that most sexual offenders of minor children were family members, family friends, neighbours, or people known to the family and friends or online friends.
Such offenders sexually abuse children continuously under threat or coercion, after taking advantage of the fact that they are in dominating possession. The parents of children fail to notice the pain and change in the attitude or behaviour of the child. Though the physical injury could heal over time, the mental agony undergone by the child would subsist for her lifetime. Various studies conducted by researchers revealed that sexually abused children experience clinically significant symptoms in the affective, cognitive, physical, and behavioural domains, the judges observed.

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The judges observed that the majority of cases of sexual offence go unnoticed and unreported due to the innocence of the victim, stigma attached, callousness of investigation, etc. Many cases are left unreported due to family prestige and the future life of the child. In our society, the sexual assault victim is not treated equally with others but treated as if she committed a sin. That is the reason many of them do not reveal the same to anyone.
Therefore, many accused escape without punishment.
The state should take immediate steps to protect children from sexual offences by conducting awareness programmes. The members of the child welfare committee should visit hostels and schools to see if any child is affected by sexual harassment and take necessary action. The state should provide funds to open protection homes for the children, the judges observed.
The case at hand involved a man from Pudukottai district who sexually assaulted his stepdaughter, a Class X student, and threatened her to keep silent. Her mother initially refrained from filing a complaint, fearing media exposure, but later approached the police. In 2019, the Pudukottai police arrested the accused, and the mahila court sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2020 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
After thoroughly reviewing the evidence, the judges found no grounds to overturn the trial court’s verdict and upheld the conviction and sentence.
End of Article
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