Article Source: Times of India

Date of Issue: March 14, 2007

Author: Himanshi Dhawan

Title of The Article: Paedophile tourism may figure in child abuse Bill

NEW DELHI: A new legislation to protect child rights will soon make it compulsory for doctors, teachers, social workers and other care-givers to report cases of child abuse to the authorities.

The proposed law - Offences Against Child Bill - that is currently in the drafting stage will cover aspects of sexual, emotional, physical and mental abuse in a comprehensive manner setting out stringent punishments for the offenders.

The proposed legislation gains significance in the light of the Nithari serial killings where the ministry of women and child development (WCD) felt that the existing laws were inadequate to recognise and penalise the offenders.

"The legislation will provide the authorities with a mechanism to identify and punish offenders for crimes against children," a senior official said.

One of the key clauses of the proposed law will be compulsory reporting by doctors, NGO workers, teachers and others who are in constant touch with children in juvenile homes, schools and shelters.

Officials and civil society consultations revealed that there was inadequate protection for abuse of boys. This has also led to an increase in paedophile tourism in the country.

"There are laws related to rape of girls but the rules of evidence and inordinate delay in prosecution often lead to vital evidence missing and to hostile witnesses," a source added.

Officials said that the lacunae in the existing laws have to be addressed with children's interest in mind.

Existing legislations do not recognise sex tourism, grooming of child for sexual purposes, violence against children, emotional abuse or instances like intentionally starving a child or transmitting a life-threatening disease to a child.

The Bill will also tackle unlawful sexual contact, using children for begging, abduction and wrongful detention, corporal punishment, ragging, intimidation, intoxicating children, abetting and involving children in armed conflict.

This legislation will be supplemented by the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) which has received Rs 90 crore in the Union budget.

The scheme prepared by the ministry has a rights-based approach for the protection of children.