Peer-reviewed article
Child Trafficking and Sexual Violence Against Children: Issues & Challenges
Pradeep Kumar Kulshrestha, Kush Kalra ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper discusses child trafficking and sexual violence against children in India, focusing on the vulnerabilities that make children susceptible to exploitation. It examines the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 and its 2019 amendment, which provide legal frameworks for protecting children from sexual abuse. The paper highlights that while the legislation is comprehensive, implementation remains a significant challenge. It also identifies gaps in the law, particularly around the fixed age definition of a child, which does not account for cases where adults may have diminished mental capacity.
Key points
- Children in India are vulnerable to trafficking for sexual exploitation both within and across borders, creating a cycle of poverty and marginalization
- The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 provides a comprehensive legal framework with detailed procedures for investigation, medical examination, and evidence recording
- The 2019 amendment increased penalties for offences against children, including provision for death penalty in severe cases
- Implementation of the Act remains weak despite its fine drafting, requiring stronger government enforcement and public awareness campaigns
- The Act's fixed age definition of 18 years lacks flexibility and does not account for persons with developmental disabilities who may have lower mental capacity despite being adults
Limitations
This document is a policy analysis rather than an empirical study, so it provides no data on prevalence, incidence, or effectiveness of interventions. It focuses on legislative framework and does not evaluate the actual impact of the POCSO Act or specific protection programmes.
Abstract
Sexual abuse against children is one of the most heinous of offences. It is an appalling violation of their trust and an ugly breach of our commitment to protect the innocent. Although there is no exclusive national data on child trafficking for sexual exploitation, it is an open secret that children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking for sexual exploitation both within and beyond the borders of the country. The process of child trafficking for sexual purposes is a vicious cycle. Due to their tender age, children are inherently vulnerable to exploitation by miscreants. Once trafficked, these children usually end up in the bottom rungs of society and live in perpetual poverty until they are rescued and integrated with the society. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (Act) has been enacted specifically to protect innocent child victims from any kind of sexual abuse. The Act is a comprehensive legislation on the subject. It gives a detailed framework of the procedure for investigation, medical examination and for recording of evidence. It has considerably widened the definition of sexual abuse and given a gender neutral definition of a child. The Act has been amended by Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, 2019. The amendment stringently penalizes the offences against children even up to death penalty. The Act has although been very finely drafted keeping in mind the minutest details, but the problem lies with its implementation. A strict watch by the government accompanied by awareness campaigns for people is the need of time. One of the biggest drawbacks of the POCSO Act is fixing the age of the child at 18 under Section 2(d); leaving no scope of any flexibility. The age should be ascertained by examining the mental capacity of the child. There might be cases of persons suffering from cerebral- palsy wherein a person aged 35 might have the brain of a child of 8 years. Then the only resort left is Section 375, IPC. This issue needs to be addressed.