Indian SC Ruling: No time limit for reporting sexual abuse of children

India's law ministry has opined that there is no time limit for reporting offences of child sexual abuse.

Following the opinion, Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said, “...now any victim, at any age, can complain about sexual abuse faced by him/her as a child and report the cases under The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), Act 2012.”

Often, children are unable to report such crimes as the perpetrator in most cases is either a family member, a relative or closely known person. Studies have also shown that the child continues to carry the trauma of sexual abuse till very late in life. In order to overcome this trauma many grown up people have started coming out to report the abuse faced by them as children, the Ministry of Women and Child Development said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development had recently consulted the Law Ministry in view of the overriding provisions of the POSCO Act over other criminal laws and provisions of mandatory reporting of such offences.

“The Ministry of Law after examining the provisions of POCSO Act vis-à-vis provisions of CrPC has advised that there appears no period of limitation mentioned in Section 19 in regard to reporting of the offences under the POCSO Act, 2012. The POCSO Act does not provide for any period of limitation for reporting the child sexual offences,” the statement said.

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, came into force on November 14, 2012.

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years and provides protection to all children under the age of 18 years from the offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography.

The development came at a time when the #MeToo movement is gathering force across urban areas of India.