Good legal article on The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012
Praiseworthy but Flawed Legislation
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011 which was passed in the Rajya
Sabha on 10 May 2012 and in the Lok Sabha on 22 May 2012 received the assent of the
President of India on 20 June 2012. It is now known as the Protection of Children from
Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and is the law of the land.
This is a piece of landmark legislation. For the first time a special law has been passed to
address the issue of s*xual violence against children. It seeks to protect allchildren below
the age of 18 from s*xual assault, s*xual harassment and p*rnography. These offences are
clearly defined for the first time in Indian penal law. The Act provides for stringent
punishment to the offenders. Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault, for example, carries an
imprisonment of no les
