"A child is a glorious gift to mankind. The rape of a child is an act of extreme depravity," with this strong observation, the Supreme Court has suggested that Parliament define the term "child" in penal law and fix the upper age as 10 years for a girl child, as existing legislations relating to children are silent about it.
"A child is a glorious gift to mankind. The rape of a child is an act of extreme depravity," with this strong observation, the Supreme Court has suggested that Parliament define the term "child" in penal law and fix the upper age as 10 years for a girl child, as existing legislations relating to children are silent about it.
The bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra, who disposed of a PIL on Monday saying the court was not empowered to order harsher punishment against child rape convicts added that it was a matter for the the legislatures, issuing a detailed 15-page order on Tuesday.
"The rape of a child is a crime which is a shameless demonstration and total insensitive exposition of attitude to a victim. It is a gross violation of social values and a failure of an individual. It is an act of extreme depravity. Therefore, the situation that has emerged compels one to rethink," the bench said.
The court recorded that the IPC provided punishment for the offence of rape but had not defined the term child.
Saying that the time had come where a distinction could be drawn between girl children and minors, this could be facilitated "by fixing the upper limit at 10 years for girl children," the court said.
"A child, a glorious gift to mankind, cannot conceive of any kind of carnal desire in man. Once she becomes a victim of such a crime, there is disastrous effect on her mind. The mental agony lasts long. .....with fond hope that Parliament would respond to the agony of the collective, for it really deserves consideration,"as per the order.
The bench passed the order while disposing of the PIL filed by the Supreme Court women lawyers association seeking chemical castration for a child rapist.
The petitioner association submitted that despite the special Act- Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), crimes against children are rising.
The petitioner cited the National Crime Records Bureau data that between the year 2012-2014,the number of these crimes have increased from 38,172 to 89,423, more than doubling and that "this is alarming."
The petitioners quoted news reports to argue that attacks on children aged between two and 10 years are on the rise and the court must step in to order tougher punishments.
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