Sanjucta Kabasi, LL.M., Faculty of Law, University of Delhi & Shubhankar Kabasi, LL.B., Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi
ABSTRACT
Child sexual abuse is an affront to the dignity of the child. It promotes a sense of distrust for the people around irrespective of how congenial the relationship exists. Data from a study undertaken by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on Child Abuse in 2007 had revealed that 53.22% of children had faced one or more forms of sexual abuse. Talking about the NCRB data of 2019, there has been an increase of 2.5% over 2017-2019 of the crimes registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. There has been an increase in reporting of the crime which is a positive sign towards the growing faith in the institution of justice system. Due to the attached social stigma, there are also significant number of sexual abuses which go unreported and with time the child develops a sense of insecurity and skepticism which overall affects his physical and psychological development. Keeping all these things in mind, the researcher has comprehensively dealt in this paper the least known rights of the victims under the POCSO Act and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018. Apart from these, the researcher has also made an all-inclusive study in the areas of manner of investigation, the steps of trial procedure, compensation to the victims, and the conditions of bail for victims of false reporting with the help of settled case laws and recent amendments.
Keywords: Bail under POCSO, False Prosecution, Child Rape Laws, and Child Victim Compensation
