2018's Criminal Law Amendment Act

The Ministry of Law and Justice introduced the Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2018 on July 23, 2018, and the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed it on July 30 and August 6, respectively. This bill intends to guarantee the death sentence for those found guilty of raping a female under the age of sixteen or twelve and to provide grievances to the victim who has been sexually attacked. It superseded the April-issued ordinance issued by the Indian President and made pertinent changes to IPC 1860, Cr. P.C 1973, Evidence Act 1872, Protection of Child from Sexual Offences (POCSO) 2012.

Amendments in the Indian Penal Code

• Section 376AB was added shortly after Section 376A and states that anyone found guilty of raping a woman under the age of twelve will be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a minimum of twenty years, with the possibility of an extended term of life. This implies that the accused's actions were completely unlawful and wrong, serving as a reminder of their natural life and that they could also face fines or even the death penalty.
• According to Section 376DA, if a woman under the age of sixteen is raped by one or more people who are part of a group or committed an act in furtherance of a shared goal, each of those individuals will be considered to have committed the crime of rape and will be sentenced to life in prison, which will serve as a reminder of their natural life, as well as a fine or the death penalty.
• According to section 376DB, if a woman under the age of 12 is raped by one or more people acting in concert with one another with the intent to commit rape, each of them will be considered to have committed the crime and will be sentenced to life in prison, which implies that what he had done was completely illegal and off-base and serves as a reminder of his natural life, as well as a fine or the death penalty.
• The penalty for rape is covered in section 376, which also replaced sub-section 1 with the phrase "Anyone found guilty of rape faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in jail, a maximum sentence of life in prison, and a fine." Section 376 was amended to add a new subsection, "3," after section 2.  It states that anyone found guilty of raping a woman under the age of sixteen will face a rigorous sentence of at least 20 years in prison, with the possibility of life imprisonment, which is meant to serve as a reminder of the offender's natural life and an implicit indictment of what they had done.

What is the POCSO Amendment Act, of 2019?

The POCSO Act was amended in 2019 to better protect children from sexual assault and harassment and to toughen the penalties for sexual offenses against minors. This amendment's characteristics are:

• The act neutralizes gender in offenses against minors.
• The term "sexual assault" has been expanded to include giving children hormones or other chemicals to help them reach a sexual maturity stage before engaging in penetrating sexual assault.
• According to the Act, child pornography is any visual representation of a child engaging in sexually explicit behavior, including pictures, videos, recordings, or computer-generated images that are identical to real children.
• The Act is important because it defines child pornography precisely and establishes penalties for it.
• The revisions also suggest synchronizing it with the IT Act and criminalizing the transmission of pornographic content to minors.
• By including the potential for the death penalty, the Act strengthens the penalties for sexual offenses against children.
• One of the most significant aspects is that individuals who perpetrate intimate sexual attacks on a minor under the age of sixteen face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, facing the prospect of life in prison, in addition to a fine
• The statute raises the maximum sentence to the death penalty and the minimum punishment from 10 to 20 years in cases of aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
• The Act stipulates that anyone using a kid for pornographic purposes faces a maximum five-year prison sentence in addition to a fine to stop child pornography.
• On the other hand, the maximum sentence for a second or subsequent conviction would be seven years in prison along with a fine.
• Additionally, the government to expedite the resolution of pending POCSO cases has approved more than a thousand fast-track courts.

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