SEXUAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS A legal and ... - The ICHRP

Goa. 504 The law criminalises ‘sexual assault’, ‘grave sexual assault’ and incest 505 , all of which
are terms defined in the Act.
‘Sexual assault’ includes “sexual touching with the use of any body part or object, voyeurism,
exhibitionism, showing pornographic pictures or films to minors, making children watch
others engaged in sexual activity, issuing threats to sexually abuse a minor, verbally abusing
a minor using vulgar and obscene language” 506; ‘grave sexual assault’ is defined as “different
types of intercourse: vaginal, oral, anal, use of objects, forcing minors to have sex with each
other, deliberately causing injury to the sexual organs, making children pose for
pornographic photos or films” 507 ; and ‘incest’ means “commission of a sexual offence by an
adult on a child who is a relative or is related by ties of adoption.” 508
In Bangladesh child sexual abuse is dealt with under provisions of the Bangladesh Penal
Code which specifies that sexual intercourse with a female below the age of 16 is rape.
However, as noted earlier, the situation for minor girls who are married remains dismal. The
law is also unclear on the position of minor boys who face sexual violence. In such cases, the
provision in the Suppression of Violence Against Women and Children Act, 2005 on “sexual
oppression” may provide an avenue but there is nothing in practice or through judgments that
makes this clear. (See section below on other forms of sexual violence.) Its provision on rape
of a woman and child, however affords no protection for minor boys as the law adopts the
definition of rape from the Penal Code which is only restricted to male- female rape. It is
possible that as in the case of India, child sexual abuse involving boys would be dealt with
under Section 377 of the Bangladesh Penal Code which criminalises voluntary carnal
intercourse against the order of nature but again there is no indication of this in the practice of
the law.
Clause 9A of the Nepal’s Country Code deems the commission of “any kind of unnatural
sexual intercourse” with a minor as an aggravated form of rape. 509 It provides that such an act
is subject to imprisonment of one year over and above that provided for the offence of rape
generally.
5.6 Sexual violence not amounting to rape
For sexual violence not amounting to rape, the laws of the research countries tend to be weak.
Very few of the countries have incorporated the concept of graded sexual assault within their
laws.
Thus, in India, the lacuna in the existing laws on rape under Section 375 and ‘unnatural
offences’ under Section 377 is that the coverage under both the provisions is limited to acts of
penetration. Hence other forms of sexual violence not involving penetration are not explicitly
defined or penalized under the Indian Penal Code. Therefore, provisions of the Indian Penal
Code such as Sections 354 and 509 that penalize assault or the use of criminal force on a
woman with the intent to “outrage her modesty” are sometimes used to address non-
504 Section 3(5), Goa Children’s Act, 2003 (India)
505 Section 8(2), ibid.
506 Section 2(y)(i), ibid.
507 Section 2(y)(ii), ibid.
508 Section 2(y)(iii), ibid.
509 Section 9A of the Chapter on Rape, Country Code (Nepal)
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