HYDERABAD: Coming on the back of yet another case of rape of a minor in a city school and numerous cases of rapes and sexual abuse, there has been a rising chorus for having a sex offender’s registry as a deterrent against such incidents.
Such registers are already a norm in some countries in the West but many experts in the field of law and child rights doubt its effectiveness and worry about its consequences.
CJ Hunagund, a member of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission opines that there should be a registry as long as the crime has been proved beyond all reasonable doubt. A high ranking police official adds that for ‘repeat offenders’, a registry is a must.
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The rate of convictions in sexual abuse and rape cases is very low. For example, according to the NCRB, more than 8,900 cases were reported in 2014 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) act. But only 406 cases went to trial and in 100 cases, only 24.6% were convicted. In such a situation can a registry be a feasible measure?
Categories of offenders
Anita Makharia is a parent whose child studied in an East Bengaluru school which became infamous for one of the most high-profile rape case of a minor in the city in 2014. No wonder she feels very strongly about the need for such a registry but says there was a need to differentiate between an accused and a person who has been convicted.
“After the incident at my child’s school, a group of parents had asked for a registry and even met some government officals. However it never materialised,” she says.
The aim was to flag off people involved in such cases in the past through a wide ambit of categories.
But the question is how anyone in the community would want to be associated with an ‘accused’ in such a registry.
Social stigma & exclusion
Arlene Manoharan, fellow at the Centre for the Child and Law, National Law School of India University, says that chances for reforming a person will be lost forever if such a measure is brought forward. “I believe that no deterrence works. Imprisoning someone is one thing but a registry will add to the social isolation and bitterness of a person. The approach should be one of ‘balanced restorative justice’ with specialised rehabilitation,” she says.
Then there is also the danger of convicting children as adults in cases according to the newly amended Juvenile Justice Act. “As a country, we are not investing in rehabilitation but only trying to appease the society through measures such as a registry,” she adds.
The registry
Last year, the central government also announced plans to moot such a measure where names, photographs, addresses and PAN cards will be put up online. The Kerala government is also thinking about a similar measure.
In countries like USA, UK, Canada and others, such a registry exists and people here who feel that India should also have it too.G Nagasimha Rao, a child right’s activist, highlighted how in USA there are even directions for such offenders to keep away from establishments such as schools. “Far the sake of the safety of a child at any cost, a registry is the need of the hour,” he says.
Does it work?
A US study titled ‘Measuring the impact of sex offender notification on community community adoption of protective behaviors’ in 2011 says such a measure was designed mainly to study public behaviour rather than the offenders.
Vidya Reddy, executive director, Tulir-Centre for the Prevention and Healing Child Sexual Abuse, Chennai, opines that a sex offender’s registry is a measure that is “myopic, populist and would be an utter failure. When there is consensual sex with or between minors, parents are going to file false cases. This registry will add fuel to the fire.”