A Socio Legal Study of Child Abuse in India with Special Reference to POCSO Amendment Bill 2019

Abstract

The study deals with the definition and various types of abuses with reference to children such as Physical abuse, mental abuse, emotional and sexual abuse. There are certain socio-legal factors that have been the reason for the abuse being inflicted on the children. Despite the abuse is prohibited by the Constitution of India being the supreme law of India, the abuse is still prevalent in the society, in addition to constitutional protection, there are other laws also such as Juvenile Justice Act, POCSO Act 2015, and provisions of Indian Penal Code 1860 that prevents and criminalizes sexual as well as moral abuse to children. There are also various historical factors which are reasoned for the increasing child abuse in India. The paper suggests that lack of awareness; education and other factors are responsible for the growing child abuse. Therefore, in order to protect the children from abuse, there must be awareness among all the stakeholders and implementation shall be monitored to avoid any kind of abuse being inflicted to children.