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child rightsCRIME AGAINST CHILDREN, INDIA 1996-2000Sl.No. Crime Head Years Percentage Variation1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2000 over 1996 2000 over 19991. Child Rape 4083 4414 4153 3153 3132 -23.3. -0.72. Kidnapping & Abduction 571 620 699 791 711 24.5. -10.13 Procuration of minor girls 94 87 171 172 147 56.4 -14.54 Selling of girls for prostitution 6 9 11 13 15 150.0 -15.35 Buying of girls for prostitution 22 13 13 5 53 140.9 9606 Abetment of Suicide 11 13 28 24 18 63.6 -2517 Exposure and Abandonment 554 582 575 593 660 19.1 11.28 Infanticide 113 107 114 87 104 -8.8 19.59 Foeticide 39 57 62 61 91 133.3 49.210 Child Marriage Restraint Act 89 78 56 58 92 3.4 58.6Total 5582 5980 5882 4957 5023 -10.0 1.3[Source: Crime in India-2000, NCRB, Ministry of Home Affairs pg 211- extracts from Table 6.1]completely and does not give anybenefit to children who are victims.It distinguishes between child and aminor even when the definition of agirl child when the amendment cameinto force (1986), was a child uptothe age of 18 years under the1986 JJ Act.One of the primary problems withthe Act is that it makes prostitutionas the only form of trafficking. Thisis deficient by itself. It also suffersfrom not drawing from other penalstatutes like the Indian Penal Code.This leads to confusion within theimplementing agencies.Prostitution after having beenmade illegal, ought to be categorisedas offences like rape, assault, wrongfulconfinement, abduction, threatetc. Unfortunately, this does nothappen and traffickers get awaywith simple punishments.Studies have shown that prosecutionis extremely superficial as theonly people perhaps prosecutedbesides the victim are the womenwho run the brothels. All other playerslike the pimps, touts, middlemanand the primary traffickers who areimportant elements in this huge illegalnetwork are not touched by theprosecution.In almost all the cases the accusedinvariably get bail. The Sessionsjudge dealing with the case does notquestion the nuances and the tricksused by the traffickers. It is importantat this stage to understand themanner in which the law works andits limitations.As a matter of practice when ayoung girl is rescued from a brothelor from any form of prostitution, shehas to be treated as a victim of thecrime and if she is a child as definedunder the Juvenile Justice Care andProtection Act, 2000. She has to beproduced before the Child WelfareCommittee as a child in need of careand protection. The Committeethereafter is under a statutory obligationto ensure that the girl getsproperly rehabilitated.However, it is being heard frommany corners that brothel ownersand the club owners are strongly lobbyingto convert this into a crime andthen to treat the girls as children inconflict with the law. This will meanthat they will be produced before theJuvenile Justice Board. The formatof the Juvenile Justice Care andProtection Act, 2000 entitles them toa bail as a matter of right. Thisentails that the girls are back intothe trade in a matter of two daysthereby defeating the whole purposeof rescue. It is extremely importantthat these methods adopted by thetraffickers are looked at and a legislationwhich is fully comprehensivebe brought in.This legislation should have realteeth. It should prosecute the actualoffenders and rehabilitate the victims.31 combat law • April - May 2004Problems with theImplementation MachineryEverybody in unison agree thatthere is a need to urgently changethe trafficking legislation. However,not much thought has been put intothe actual implementation of thelaw. The best of legislation will beuseless if the implementing machineryis not strengthened and are notsensitised about the use of the law.It is not enough to target just thepolice for sensitisation. It is importantthat prosecutors and judgesare also introduced to modern developmentsin the conduct of trials andencourage them to use it in trialsrelating to rape and commercial sexualexploitation. In order to achievethis, the format of the criminal justicesystem has to change. It has todepart from its present approach ofprosecution of the offenders alone, toa system where overall justice is renderedto the victim. This will essentiallymean that the victim gets aright to participate in the trial withthe same rights as of the accused. Inthe current system, the victim, if sheis lucky, gets a copy of the FirstInformation Report.In a case relating to the mass rescueof victims from the red light areaof Delhi, when the victims’ lawyermade an application to the SessionsJudge to record the evidence throughvideo conferencing, her locus standito move the application was ques-