Hyderabad: In yet another crime against girls in Hyderabad, a 40-year-old man misbehaves with a five-year-old from his neighborhood.
As per the details of the case, the man lured the girl child with chocolates and biscuits before taking her to a secluded spot in Hyderabad where he misbehaved with her.
Police arrested accused for misbehaving girl child in Hyderabad
However, when the girl raised an alarm, the locals caught and thrashed the man before handing him over to the police.
Based on a complaint registered by the victim’s mother, Saifabad police, Hyderabad registered a case under the charges of misbehaving with the girl child and arrested the accused persons.
The incident once again highlights the need for ensuring the safety and security of children, especially young girls.
In order to protect children from sexual offenses, Parliament enacted POCSO Act in 2012.
What is POCSO Act?
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was enacted to protect children aged below 18 years from various sexual offenses.
Under the act, any person aged below 18 years irrespective of gender is a child. The act broadly classified sexual offenses against the child into five.
- Penetrative sexual assault
- Aggregative penetrative sexual assault
- Sexual assault
- Aggregative sexual assault
- Sexual harassment
The minimum punishment for penetrative sexual assault under POCSO Act is 10 years in jail if the offense is committed against a girl aged between 16-18 years.
In the case of aggregative penetrative sexual assault, the minimum punishment under the act is 20 years.
As per the act, the person who commits sexual assault on a child is punished with imprisonment of not less than three years whereas, the minimum punishment for the accused of aggregative sexual assault is five years.
In case of sexual harassment, the accused is sent to jail for a term that may extend to three years.
The sections of the act also apply to the accused who uses a child for pornographic purposes.
Apart from specifying the offenses, the act also gave a detailed procedure for reporting cases, recording statement of the child, special courts, etc.
From Hyderabad too, many persons were booked and sent to jail under the act for abusing girls.
