BJP MP moves bill to amend law on sexual offences against

Problems are being caused by a provision in the law that makes it mandatory for anyone having knowledge about molestation of a child to report it to the police and it should be scrapped, a BJP MP said today, while moving a private member's bill in this regard.
Such is the seriousness of the problem that some judges are refusing to take up divorce cases as there have been instances where a husband or a wife has filed cases against the judicial officers in this connection, BJP member Subramanian Swamy said in the Rajya Sabha.
Moving 'The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2016', he said it essentially seeks deletion of Section 19 of the Act which deals with reporting of the offences against children.

The section says "any person who has the knowledge that such an offence (like molestation of a child) has been committed, shall provide the information to the police."
According to Swamy, the section is creating problems for even the judges who are hearing the cases.
"This is a matter of law arising out of the passage of the 2012 bill on Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. That Act was widely welcomed but the drafting of some sections has been so poor that many people in the judiciary particularly have spoken to me about it regarding the harassment they themselves are subject by the application of this act," Swamy said.

"There are cases, not one or two, there are 27 listed cases from different parts of the country, particularly at the High Court level where a judge is hearing a divorce case. The estranged wife says 'I want divorce because my husband has molested the daughter'...Now if the judge does not go and file a report with the police, very often the husband or the wife makes a complaint that the judge, having heard it, should have filed the case," the BJP member said.

It has led to FIR registered against the judge under Section 21, Subramanian said.
"The government should call for this report from the judiciary or the states as to how many times such things have happened," he added.

Due to this, judges are increasingly refusing to take divorce cases and it has caused a great backlog of such cases because the judges are afraid, he said.
"The section (19) should have an exception which would have said that all all those who conduct judicial proceedings shall be exempt from this section," Swamy said.
"There is a big flaw in the drafting so this section should be completely struck down and a new amendment should be brought by the government," he added.