the goan I network
PANAJI
The Goa Children’s Act 2003, and Rules 2004, is set to be amended in 2020, in keeping with the changing times. Most notably, if the bill is passed in the Legislative Assembly this year, the amended act will see a shift in focus of crimes against children to online-crimes against children.
In the 59th section, which deals with child trafficking, the proposed amendment clearly includes “online trafficking”, in addition to the other forms of child trafficking by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or the abuse of power. The Commission has stated that the amendment needs to be made in view of the use of advanced technology.
When it comes to the “commercial sexual exploitation of children,” the Commission has proposed including cyber bullying engaged in ‘grooming’ and ‘sexting’ in section 17, as the current legislation does not address cyber crimes.
Further, in the 76th section which speaks of education of children, the proposed amendment specifies that all educational institutions shall preferably include 48 hours of training on online safety. In addition, the amendment proposes that during these 48 hours, to be spread out in the course of the year, children be taught about their rights and responsibilities, comprehensive sexuality education and gender justice equality in their curriculum exclusively devoted to teaching and discussing all matters related to these. This will apply to all students from Standard V and above.
The 2003 Act makes no mention of training children on either sex education or online safety. The proposed amendment has been suggested “since computers are introduced in schools with free access to online sites, and children are inquisitive to explore any indecent site.” The Commission also recommends that sites which display indecent and hazardous issues should be blocked in schools, educational institutes.
In other education-related matters, the Commission has proposed that counseling facilities by trained personnel, qualified and trained counsellors shall be compulsorily provided to children in all schools and educational institutions.
The 99 page amendment has been proposed since the provisions of the central legislations are more relevant now, and need to be added to the Goa Children’s Act as some of the Rules of the existing legislation have become irrelevant and hence need to be deleted. Suggestions for which changes need to be added to the Act were taken from various stakeholders and persons working with children, including the police, NGOs, lawyers, activists and education officials during a round table conference organised by the Commission in February
2019. Chairperson of the Goa State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (GSCPCR) Adv Sushma Mandrekar told The Goan on Tuesday that she has submitted a draft of the amended act to the Secretary of Women and Child Development, Sanjay Gihar IAS, last week.
