CHENNAI: After a special court for POCSO cases, on Monday, sentenced five of the 15 persons convicted in the 2018 Ayanavaram child sexual assault case to life imprisonment, child rights activists say that publicity of the verdict may embolden people to come forward and report crimes. However, there is a lot to be learnt from the way the case was handled, they said.
Even as the incident has been largely considered as gang rape, the public has wrongly assumed that all accused were involved in equal measure of sexual assault. However, the varying sentences delivered to the 16 convicts in itself suggests that the convicts were involved in different acts.
What constitutes a gang rape?
Based on a reading of the charges against the convicts, only five of them have been charged under the Section 6 of the POCSO Act. This means that only five of the convicts were involved in aggravated penetrative sexual assault. Further, 11 of the 15 were charged under Section 10 of the Act which states the punishment for aggravated sexual assault. Many were charged for other kinds of sexual harassment as well, which need not even involve physical contact.
Fair and equal access to justice:
While many have welcomed the Court’s ruling, the premise of the case also has to be analysed, said Vidya Reddy, executive director of Tulir, a Chennai-based organisation working to redress child sexual abuse. She said that while incidents of child sexual abuse are extremely common, this case, like the Nirbhaya incident, had caught the public attention as the child lived in a gated community in the capital city of the State.
“While the police were able to arrest 17 people in a matter of a few days, there are still several cases in which it takes a while to arrest the accused, despite the identification by the victim,” she commented, adding that she found it a strange coincidence that all 17 were blue-collar workers.
Even as it has been more than a year since the case first came into the limelight, its details are yet to surface on the public forum. Relative to many other cases of sexual assault, the Court has expedited the case. “Why is the delivery of justice different for people from different demographics?”
Compensation scheme:
The victim shall be provided with `6 lakh as compensation and an interim compensation of `1.5 lakh should be awarded, said the judge. While according to POCSO Act, the interim compensation should be awarded at the start of the trial, “Why is the Court awarding an interim compensation at the tail-end of the case when it should be awarding final compensation?” asked Reddy.
Sherin Bosko, founder of Nakshtra Rape Crisis Centre, said the court could have however, increased the compensation as the family has spent a lot on relocation from the apartment and on seeking legal services.”But, compared to the compensation received by victims in other cases, I think this is relatively high.” She, however, said that the judgement was fair and shouldn’t have been any lighter.”Often, people think that a strong judgment will decrease reporting, but I think otherwise. Only strong punishment will decrease the crime rate,” she added.
Are crimes against women and children increasing?
The Ayanavaram incident had triggered a state of panic among many, as they feared that their children were suddenly unsafe in their own homes, said A Narayanan, the director of Change India, a Chennai-based centre for advocacy and research of child rights. "Even as there are increasing number of cases of crime against women and children are being reported,it is does not translate to an increase in crime against women and children," he said.
He elaborated that with higher awareness and better penetration of education, more cases are likely to come to limelight. He said in order to embolden more to report the crimes committed against them,only when there is overall sensitivity to nature of the incident, trust on the police, public prosecution and fair and equal justice from the judiciary, he said.