GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
RAJYA SABHA
QUESTION NO. 581
ANSWERED ON 07.02.2019
Bringing Child Grooming under POSCO Act
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR)
(a) & (b): There is no such proposal under consideration in the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, contains effective provisions to curb the menace of child abuse. The Act provides mandatory reporting, child friendly provisions of recording of statement and evidence and speedy trial of the cases. There are adequate legal penal provisions including POCSO Act, 2012 for the sexual offences against the children, as per the gravity of offences. However, in the wake of such purported instances through media recently impacting young children, Ministry took up the matter with Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology at the level of Minister and Secretary to take necessary interventions to curb the menace and to ensure the safety and security of children. In order to equip children in negotiating the online world with adequate safety, Ministry of Human Resource Development was requested to issue necessary directions to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for incorporating suitable content pertaining to cyber safety in the school curriculum of children and advise State Governments to do the same through their School Boards.********