New Delhi: Police have detained and started investigation against a Chitradurga-based prominent Lingayat mutt seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru on Monday for alleged sexual abuse of minor girls, according to reports. The Mysuru police registered a case under the POCSO Act against the Murugha Mutt seer on Sunday.

The case has been registered at the Nazarbad Police Station in Mysuru, based on a complaint by an officer of the District Child Protection Unit, The Hindu reported. The warden of a hostel run by the mutt was among the five accused, police sources told PTI. The seer was detained after the case was transferred to the Chitradurga police.

The police said the complaint is based on the statement of the two girls who accused the seer of ‘sexually abusing’ them for nearly couple of years now and others of allegedly cooperating with the act, PTI reported.

The girls reportedly approached the ‘Odanadi Seva Samsthe’, a Mysuru-based NGO, and narrated their ordeal during counselling on Friday night. Following this, the organisation approached the authorities.

The two girl victims then reached Chitradurga on Saturday night and were placed in the district Bala Mandira and brought to the child welfare committee. Their statement was recorded before the child welfare committee and the district police, following which a medical examination was conducted on them at the district hospital.

According to the police complaint, the girls are aged 15 and 16 and were staying at the hostel run by the Murugha Mutt. The two were sexually abused for over three-and-a-half-years, as per an India Today report.

The Chitradurga police have also registered a complaint against S K Basavarajan, former MLA and administrator of the mutt, on charges of kidnapping the victims and trying to sexually assault a woman warden of the said hostel, The Hindu reported.

The case against S K Basavarajan was registered by the warden of Muruga Mutt at Chitradurga rural police station under IPC Sec 354(A),504,506,363, & u/s 120(B), India Today reported. The warden alleged that the two minor girls from the Muruga Mutt hostel were kidnapped and later found at Cottonpet Police Station in Bengaluru. She alleged that Basavarajan has been accused of sexually abusing the children and the warden from the day he took over as administrator of the Muruga Mutt.

Protests in City

The city saw two different protests seeking justice for the seer and the victims, according to The Hindu‘s report. While one group comprising some seers and politicians protested the seer’s arrest and claimed that allegations against him were false and baseless, the other group of protesters held a demonstration before the child welfare committee and demanded a fair and transparent probe. Some protesters belonging to the latter group also demanded a judicial probe into the case citing a lack of confidence in the local police. 

There is a possibility of the provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/STs Act being invoked against the seer because one of the victims is from the Scheduled Caste.

Meanwhile, Murugha Sharanaru has responded to the allegations claiming they were a part of a “big conspiracy” against him, according to The Hindu.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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In the ongoing monsoon session, the central government has revealed details about sexual abuse cases against children under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The government was asked to answer questions on the rising trend of cases under the Act, the conviction rate, and the number of fast-track courts dealing with POCSO cases. The Ministry of Women and Child Development, however, was unable to provide data from 2020.

Cases under POCSO from 2015 to 2019

The year 2019 recorded the highest number of cases registered under POCSO at 47,335 when compared with previous years. Out of this number, 53,555 people have been charge-sheeted but only 6,994 people have been convicted and sent to prison.

39,827 cases had been registered in the year 2018 and 5,297 people had been convicted under the Act. The year 2017 saw 4,500 people convicted of crimes under POCSO and 2016 saw 3,859 people. There is also a huge difference between people arrested and people who eventually get convicted.

Uttar Pradesh has topped the list each year from 2015 to 2016 with the maximum number of people convicted under the POCSO Act, indicating the terrible state of affairs.

Fast track courts

In a separate response provided by the Women and Child Development Ministry on July 30, the Parliament was apprised that, through a centrally sponsored scheme, some 1,023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) have been set up, including 389 Exclusive POCSO Courts for expeditious trial and disposal of rape and POCSO cases.

But out of 1,023 FTSCs, only 640 are functional across 26 States and Union Territories, and 338 Exclusive POCSO Courts out of 389. A total of only 40 cases have been disposed of in the fast-track courts and 484 cases have been disposed of in POCSO courts up until May, 2021.

Goa and Jammu and Kashmir are yet to operationalise FTSCs. Furthermore, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Island and Arunachal Pradesh have still not joined the Scheme for setting up special courts.

Pendency rate

In the year 2019, 47,335 cases were registered under POCSO and the cases pending trial at the end of the year stood at 1,33,068. These figures are way higher than 2017 and 2018. In the year 2017, 32,608 cases were registered and by the end of the year, 84143 cases were pending trial.

In 2018, 1,08,129 POCSO cases were pending for trial against a total number of 39,827 registered cases.

SabrangIndia also reported that between 2017 to 2019, as many as 1,340 cases were registered against caretakers or persons in charge of Juvenile Homes for abuse of children lodged in these Homes. The NCRB data says that in 2017, a total of 297 persons were arrested for crimes against children in CCIs, and in that only 13 persons were convicted. In the year 2018, the figure of persons arrested for these crimes increased drastically to 727 and the rate of conviction remained low at 14.

The answers may be read here:

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Gujarat, the state that was recently criticised for its rising crimes against children, reported zero cases of child sexual violence in the last three years, said the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

When Member of Parliament Rajeshbhai Chudasama, asked about the number of cases of child torture and sexual exploitation at shelter homes, Union Minister Smriti Irani said, “As per the information provided by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), they have received 41 complaints relating to torture, sexual exploitation and violence against children in Child Care Institutions including Shelter Homes during the last three years.”

As per the data, nine cases were reported in 2019-20 while 2018-19 had as many as 26 reported cases of violence against children. Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest number of such cases with two cases reported in 2019-20, nine cases reported in 2018-19 and three cases reported in 2017-18.

However, other areas such as Gujarat, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Lakshadweep islands, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal reported no cases at all in the last three years.

“The primary responsibility of implementation of the JJ [Juvenile Justice] Act lies with the State Government/UT Administration and the Ministry of Women and Child Development has issued necessary advisory to them in this regard. Besides, the NCPCR and State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) created as statutory bodies under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 (CPCR), oversee the implementation of the JJ Act in the country,” she said.

The MP also asked about the total number of shelter homes and Child Care Institutions (CCIs) currently functional across the country along with the number of children residing in them. In reply, Union Minister Smriti Irani said that 1,544 institutional care homes, 262 open shelters and 356 specialised adoption agencies are functional in 2019-2020. As many as 67,332 children, 6,802 children and 3,631 children have benefitted from these care homes, shelter and adoption agencies respectively.

West Bengal that 23 specialised adoption agencies reported 326 beneficiaries, the highest in the country. Similarly, 1,226 children benefited from the 49 beneficiaries in West Bengal. Tamil Nadu had the highest number of beneficiaries – 12,864 children – from the 198 institutional care homes across the state.

Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh all had as many as 25 specialised adoption agencies.

Meanwhile in Gujarat, 1,707 children benefited from 52 institutional care homes, 60 children benefited from 3 open shelters and 128 children benefited from 13 specialised adoption agencies.

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Gujarat’s sexually-abused children will have to wait for 55-200 years for getting justice, more than any Indian state

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If calculated on the basis of the absolute numbers of pending cases as on 2016, the report says, it would take 55 years for Gujarat to complete trials, but if the calculation is based on case disposal rate (again as on 2016), the state would “require more than 200 years to complete trial of pending cases.” Only two small states are found to be “competing” Gujarat’s 200 years mark – Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
 

10 worst major states

The report has been published against the backdrop of the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, in Jammu & Kashmir(J&K) in January 2018, has “shaken” the conscience of the nation, leading to “public outcry” against “this harrowing case”, reminiscent of “the mass protests against the horrifying gangrape of a young girl in Delhi in December 2012, when justice delivery mechanisms against rape in India were amended to be more stringent and robust”, says the report.

The best performing state – calculated on the basis of absolute numbers of cases of child sexual abuse as also case disposal rate – is Punjab, which would require just two years for completing trials, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh requiring 3 to 4 years, Tamil Nadu 4 to 7 years, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and J&K 4 to 8 years, and Himachal Pradesh 6 to 11 years.

The states which are found to be performing one of the worst, though far better than Gujarat, include the Left-ruled Kerala, which would take 23 to 74 years, West Bengal 19 to 67 years, Maharashtra 16 to 49 years, Bihar 13 to 40 years, Delhi 13 to 37 years, Karnataka 12 to 35 years, Odisha 12 to 33 years, Rajasthan 10 to 28 years, and Uttar Pradesh 10 to 27 years.

Titled “The Challenge Cannot Wait: Status of Pending Trials in Child Abuse Cases in India”, the report says that this state of affairs is there despite the fact the despite amendments brought about in the India Penal Code 1980, providing a wider definition of rape, seeking completion of investigation of child rape within two months of registration, and completion of trial, also within two months.
 

The report says, “Stories of child rape and sexual abuse such as that from Kathua continue to emerge every day, in the absence of a responsive justice delivery system”, adding, its state-wise timeline of pendency of cases of child sexual abuse is based on the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India response to a Lok Sabha unstarred question 2544 (August 1, 2017). Data are based on “the prosecution of cases of crimes of child sexual abuse under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 between 2014 and 2016”.

Pointing out that the “state timeline for pendency of cases of child sexual abuse” suggests that “the completion of trial is too slow”, the report states, on an average, it would take “almost two decades to clear backlogs” in the country. However, there are extreme state-level variations. Thus, “it varies from two years in Punjab to more than 60 years in Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Manipur, West Bengal and Kerala”, with continuous rise in “the number of pending cases over the previous year.”
 

Thus, it says, “The number of pending cases during 2015 has increased by 37% over 2014 (increased from 52,309 in 2014 to 71,552 in 2015). The same during 2016 has increased at 26% (increased from 71,552 in 2015 to 89,999 in 2016).” Noting that “convictions remain a distant dream”, the report says, “With regard to conviction rate, it is evident that conviction under POCSO has remained constant at 30% during 2014-16,” even though “it has registered an increase of 6% during 2015.”

Courtesy: https://www.counterview.net
 

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On Tuesday, April 17, an eight-year-old girl in was allegedly raped and strangled in Uttar Pradesh. Her family was attending a wedding in Etah, where the accused, aged 18, is from. The accused, Sonu, allegedly took the victim while wedding rituals with loud music were being performed, taking her to a half-constructed house, where he allegedly raped and then choked her. He was arrested after being found, drunk, next the girl’s body. He has been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as well as under the National Security Act (NSA), under which an individual can be detained without being granted bail or a trial; revealing the grounds for detention is not required if authorities are of the opinion that the individual could pose a threat to the state’s or country’s security, or to public order.

Days later, a nine-year-old who was also attending a wedding with her family in Etah, Uttar Pradesh was allegedly raped and strangled. A cook, Pintu, who was with the team that was hired to cook food for the wedding, allegedly took the girl from her family’s neighbour’s home to a deserted area, then allegedly raped and strangled her. He has been arrested.

In a third incident that was similar, but took place in nearby Chhattisgarh, a ten-year-old girl was raped and murdered, also during a wedding event, on Wednesday, April 18. Police said that the accused, Uttam Sahu, 25, confessed to raping the girl and then killing her by hitting her head with a stone. Sahu was a friend of the bridegroom, who was related to the victim. 

These incidents follow the discovery of a young girl’s body in Surat; a postmortem report suggested that the girl was raped and tortured for eight days before she was strangled. The girl had 86 injuries on her body. 

Offences against children seem to have risen dramatically in the last decade, according to an analysis by child rights organisation CRY. “There has been a significant increase in crimes against minors of more than 500 per cent over the past 10 years with 1,06,958 cases being reported in 2016 over a figure of 18,967 in 2006,” the analysis noted. CRY–Child Rights and You–also found that 50% of crimes against children have been documented in only five states: Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Uttar Pradesh takes first position, with 15% of crimes against children being documented there. This figure is 14% for Maharashtra, and 13% for Madhya Pradesh. CRY also found that every 15 minutes, a sexual crime is committed against a child in India. 

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What does it mean for a pope to apologize? AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

In times past, a personal apology from the pope would have been close to unthinkable.

Popes can make mistakes

Catholics believe the pope is the successor to the Apostle Peter, one of the first followers of Jesus. But Peter was a flawed human being: When confronted by a crowd, he denied his association with Jesus three times. Afterwards, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Peter “wept bitterly.”

For Catholics, Peter’s experience shows that even those specially chosen by God have deep-seated weaknesses for which they must show sorrow.

Popes are not always right in what they do, but their errors have been admitted only years – sometimes centuries – later. In 1992, for example, John Paul II apologized for the Catholic Church’s condemnation of Galileo that happened over 350 years earlier.
Once rare, papal apologies increased under the reign of John Paul II. While those apologies admitted that the Church made mistakes, they did not ask for forgiveness for past popes.

Church history on apology

In the middle ages, popes were not inclined to apologize at all, or even accept apologies. Most famously, in 1077 A.D., Pope Gregory VII initially rejected King Henry IV’s apology concerning a dispute over who had the power to appoint local bishops. The pope forced Henry, then the king of the Holy Roman Empire, to wait in a blizzard for three days before accepting him back into the Catholic Church.

This dismissive attitude gave way to soul-searching during the Second Vatican Council, a seminal meeting that modernized the Church, held in Rome from 1962-65. One of the most important issues Catholicism had to confront was its historical persecution of Jews. Thousands of Jews were killed as Crusaders made their way to Jerusalem. Jews were expelled from Catholic Spain in 1492. And most horrible was the Holocaust, or “Shoah,” the organized slaughter of over 6 million Jews, which occurred in Christian-majority nations during the Second World War.

In one of the council’s most important documents, Nostra Aetate, the Catholic Church rejected the idea that Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Nostra Aetate also established a foundation for a more cooperative and respectful relationship between Christians and Jews.

In 1966, the Church moved to apologize for centuries of distrust between Catholics and Protestants, when Pope Paul VI gave his ring to Michael Ramsey, the head of the Anglican church – the 100th archbishop of Canterbury – as an offering of reconciliation.

Pope John Paul II. AP Photo/Alik Keplicz-file

Pope John Paul II gave many apologies, but usually on behalf of the Church for what was done centuries ago. Most notable was the “Day for Pardon” in March 2000, that asked forgiveness for a series of sins, including those “against the dignity of women and the unity of the human race” and “actions against love, peace, the rights of peoples, and respect for cultures and religions.”

But many remember how Pope John Paul II remained largely silent on the issue of clerical abuse because it “did not fit with his image of the Church,” according to Australian bishop Geoffrey Robinson. In a 2002 address to American cardinals, John Paul II did say he was “greatly grieved” that priests “had caused such suffering and scandal to the young,” but he stopped short of offering a personal plea for forgiveness.

Following John Paul’s example, Pope Benedict XVI stated in a 2010 letter that he was “sorry” that Catholics of Ireland had “suffered grievously” because of the “abuse of children and vulnerable young people.” But he did not apologize for lack of Vatican oversight over Irish bishops and priests.

Perhaps the closest parallel to Pope Francis’ apology was Pope Benedict’s expression of regret over “reactions” to his address in 2006 at the University of Regensburg, Germany, where he seemed to criticize Islam.
 

What is Pope Francis doing?

Fully accepting that the pope is a fallible human being can be somewhat of an emotional struggle for Catholics. While the pope – also called “The Vicar of Christ” – is considered to be infallible when he formally makes a statement about Catholic doctrine concerning “faith and morals,” the pope certainly makes mistakes in his priestly service and personal life.

Francis, however, is not shy about admitting his own fallibility as a pope and as a person. In fact, he said in a 2013 interview:
 

“I am a sinner. This the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”

With that statement, Pope Francis was saying that he – a leader of 1 billion people – needs forgiveness and mercy too. And mercy and forgiveness have been the central themes of his pontificate.

Of the many responsibilities of a pope, chief among them is being a teacher. And when Francis apologized to the people of Chile and to victims of sexual abuse, he also was teaching the rest of us how to admit our sins as a first step in making things right.

Mathew Schmalz, Associate Professor of Religion, College of the Holy Cross

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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STOCK IMAGE

In the year 2016 alone, as many as 106958 cases of crimes against children were recorded in 2016. Of these, 36,022 cases were recorded under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.

Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava filed a petition which said there was 95% pendency rate, as per the statistics of the National Crime Record Bureau. CJI Misra noted that the court wanted fresh and independent data collected by a team constituted under the supervision of the CJIs of the High Courts. The purpose behind asking for fresh and independent data remains unclear when the NCRB already had released the data.

The petition was filed in the case concerning the brutal sexual assault of an eight month old child who is admitted in AIIMS for intensive care under the court’s January 31 order. The child is serious and battling for her life right now.

As per the Act, special courts have been designated to look into the cases on a speedy basis. The Bench said it wanted to know the status so that it could set a deadline for the completion of trials in these courts. The Supreme Court has allocated four weeks for the High Courts to submit the data to the Supreme Court Registry..

In February, the court had said, “The death penalty is not the answer for everything.”

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