Bill introduces death penalty for aggravated child sexual assault

This Bill amends the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 to increase penalties for sexual offences against children, introduce the death penalty for aggravated penetrative sexual assault, and define new offences related to child pornography and the administration of substances to induce early sexual maturity.

Who it concerns: The law applies to any person who commits sexual offences against children, stores or possesses child pornography, or uses children for pornographic purposes. It also affects the Central Government, which is empowered to make rules regarding the reporting and deletion of such material.

What the bill does

• Increases the minimum imprisonment for penetrative sexual assault from seven to ten years.
• Introduces a new punishment for penetrative sexual assault on a child below sixteen years of age: minimum twenty years imprisonment, extendable to life imprisonment (remainder of natural life), plus a fine.
• Amends the punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault to include rigorous imprisonment of at least twenty years, extendable to life imprisonment, or the death penalty.
• Adds 'causes death of the child' as an aggravating circumstance for penetrative sexual assault.
• Expands the definition of aggravated offences to include acts committed during 'violence or during any natural calamity or in similar situations' instead of just 'communal or sectarian violence'.
• Criminalizes persuading, inducing, or coercing a child to take drugs, hormones, or chemicals to attain early sexual maturity.
• Defines 'child pornography' to include digital or computer-generated images indistinguishable from an actual child.
• Establishes penalties for storing or possessing child pornography: fines for failure to delete/report, and imprisonment for transmitting, propagating, or commercial use.
• Updates references to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act from the 2000 version to the 2015 version.
• Empowers the Central Government to make rules for the manner of deleting, destroying, or reporting child pornography to designated authorities.

Also in the document

• The Bill introduces the death penalty as a possible punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
• The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha after a similar Bill lapsed in the Lok Sabha due to the dissolution of the Sixteenth Lok Sabha.
• The Statement of Objects and Reasons cites rising cases of child sexual abuse and Supreme Court precedents regarding the death penalty in rare cases as justification for stricter measures.