SCHOOL OF LAW, GALGOTIAS UNIVERSITY
EVIL OF CHILD ABUSE WORKSHOP Anklesh Kumar, Shashank Gautam & Pranjali Srivastava
INTRODUCTION Child maltreatment is a leading cause of childhood serious injuries and fatalities. As the most widely available helping professionals in communities, police have a natural role in preventing and responding to child abuse and neglect. Not only are police legally mandated to enforce the law and protect residents' safety, but also they are generally committed to children's welfare. Child abuse and neglect are very difficult problems. The injuries sustained often resemble those caused by unintentional or accidental situations, and police must carefully evaluate all reasonable explanations. The staes are high!if police misdiagnose the cause of injuries, the potential for future victimi"ation exists. #urther, the victim is always a child, and some are very young. $olice need to understand children's developmental capacities!their language and cognitive abilities!to be able to communicate with the victims of these crimes. #inally, unlie many other crimes that occur in public places, child abuse and neglect usually occurs in private places, and the victims may try to hide evidence of the abuse or deny that it too place. As a result, collecting sufficient evidence to determine whether a crime occurred and to identify effective responses to the problem is very difficult.
QUESTIONS ASKED FROM THE STUDENTS
%ave you ever suffered &ental(erbal$hysical Abuse) *f yes, have you ever told anyone about it) +o you now about $C-) +o you now there are organisations that help children who have suffered child abuse) %ave you told anyone about it in your family) +id anyone tae reuisite steps for the same)
ABOUT POCSO
*n order to effectively address the heinous crimes of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of childrenthrough less ambiguous and more stringent legal provisions, the &inistry of /omen and Child +evelopment championed the introduction of the $rotection of Children from -exual ffences 0$C-1 Act, 2342. The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age, and regards the best interests and well5being of the child as being of paramount importance
at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child. *t defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non5penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography, and deems a sexual assault to be 6aggravated7 under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority vis585vis the child, lie a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor. $eople who traffic children for sexual purposes are also punishable under the provisions relating to abetment in the Act. The Act prescribes stringent punishment graded as per the gravity of the offence, with a maximum term of rigorous imprisonment for life, and fine. 9nder -ection :: of the $rotection of Children from -exual ffences 0$C-1 Act and ;ule < of $C- ;ules, 2342, the National Commission for $rotection of Child ;ights, in addition to its assigned functions, also mandated= 4. To monitor in the implementation of $rotection of Children from -exual ffences 0$C-1 Act, 2342> 2. To monitor the designation of -pecial Courts by -tate ?overnments> @. To monitor the appointment of $ublic $rosecutors by -tate ?overnments> :. To monitor the formulation of the guidelines described in section @ of the Act by the -tate ?overnments, for the use of non5governmental organisations, professionals and experts or persons having nowledge of psychology, social wor, physical health, mental health and child development to be associated with the pre5trial and trial stage to assist the child, and to monitor the application of these guidelines> B. To monitor the designing and implementation of modules for training police personnel and other concerned persons, including officers of the Central and -tate ?overnments, for the effective discharge of their functions under the Act>
<. To monitor and support the Central ?overnment and -tate ?overnments for the dissemination of information relating to the provisions of the Act through media including the television, radio and print media at regular intervals, so as to mae the general public, children as well as their parents and guardians aware of the provisions of the Act> . To call for a report on any specific case of child sexual abuse falling within the jurisdiction of a C/C> D. To collect information and data on its own or from the relevant agencies regarding reported cases of sexual abuse and their disposal under the processes established under the Act, including information on the following=5 o Number and details of offences reported under the Act> o /hether the procedures prescribed under the Act and rules were
o
followed,*ncluding those regarding timeframes> +etails of arrangements for care and protection of victims of offences under this Act, including arrangements for emergency
o
medical care and medical examination> and +etails regarding assessment of the need for care and protection
of a child by the concerned C/C in any specific case. . To assess the implementation of the provisions of the Act and to include a report in a separate chapter in its Annual ;eport to the $arliament.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE SHASHANK GAUTAM
The session was uite interactive with children and as well as teachers. /e have provided a good time to interact and children are een to interact with us. /e ased children about did they ever heard about the law relating to human rights and rights of child in *ndia as well as in the whole world. As expected they donEt now about the rights and law. -o
first the children are very shy and are hesitate to answer my uestion so * just mae session easy and calm donEt want to discuss that can disturb them in any way. * ased what they want to become and what they have to do to become what they desire. * have tell about the rights declared by the 9N that every child under age 4D have to be declared minor and they have rights to have food and shelter under unicef. * was happy to hear they get very little punishment by the teachers and * havenEt found any child that * can see isnEt happy. There is huge number of children actively in sports and some also played national . so that experienced was good and delightful.
ANKLESH KUMAR
&y interaction with the students was heartful and they all appeared to be extremely charmed to have the capacity to sirt a class to go to our worshop. The ids had no clue about types of
child abuse or the
associations that deal with the same. /e enlightened them concerning their rights, how they could contact an authority on the off chance that they at any point experienced anything lie this. #or me the worshop gave nowledge with reference to what could occur under our own noses, that individuals freuently tend to choose not to see, to remain bac and trust another person and see that trust being exploited. * can thin bac and consider episodes that * witnessed that * may have taen care of distinctively had * gotten the chance that * had
the learning that * now have from doing this worshop. *t is my conviction that any people and additionally association that wor straightforwardly with youngsters ought to edify the ids about the fiendishness of child abuse that sneas in our general public, if for no other explanation yet to get an idea about the types of manhandles.
PRANJALI SRIVASTAVA
#irst of all, * would lie to start sharing my experience from the very beginning. #irst thing which * learned through this worshop is teamwor and how to wor as a team. ur topic was Child Abuse, so we started researching through internet, we downloaded many files and then we came with the execution part. &y wor was to prepare the uestionnaire for the targeted audience. * went through many uestionnaires and then * prepared a uestionnaire on that basis. -o, second thing which * learned was about uestionnaire. Now our next part of the tas was to allocate the presentation wor. &y wor was to conclude the worshop. +uring the worshop * realised the importance of law because during that time * saw in the eyes of the teachers and students that they are somehow dependant on us and we need to do justice to them and to our profession. /e were giving presentation to the < th F D th class students , Next thing was Child Abuse, of Course through this worshop * learned about Child Abuse but * also came to now about that our society is way bac in terms of nowledge and awareness. Teachers and -tudents are not
aware about the Child Abuse, they were never seen any such worshop, which raises concern on our educational system also. /hat * felt about myself was much to do for the society, more to learn and more to spread. * had a great time with them, students and staffs been nice. #rom this worshop my confidence has been increased and also * learned how to spea proper %indi. * would lie to do more worshops in nearing future.
