Govt Policies & Interventions

KEY POINTS

·        India has launched a National Database of Sex Offenders’, which will have records of about 4.4 lakh people convicted of various sexual offences from 2005 onwards.

Effectiveness of the database

·        The registry contains the name, address, photograph, fingerprint details, DNA samples, PAN and Aadhaar number of the offender.

·        The National Crime Records Bureau will maintain the database, which will be shared with states and union territories for tracking, monitoring and investigating, including verification of antecedents by police.

·        For instance, before hiring a domestic help, a prospective employer can get his antecedents verified by the police.

·        It will be very helpful in limiting the rampant growth of sex crimes, including those against children.

·        It will act as a deterrent against the perpetrator and also helps in sorting out and solving cases.

·        It will be very much useful to investigators when offenders who commit a crime in one state migrate to another.

·        It ensures less opportunity for repeated offenders.

Limitations

·        Under-reporting – As per the NCRB data for 2016, in 94.6% of reported cases of rape against women and children, the perpetrator is known to the victim.

·        This had resulted in frequent under-reporting of the crimes. Thus, the registry missed many of the real offenders already.

·        The fear of the offender being included in the registry may further exacerbate the problem of underreporting.

·        Low conviction rate – The database will include offenders convicted under charges of rape, gang rape, POCSO and eve teasing.

·        According to NCRB, in 2016, courts across the country completed trial in 18,552 rape cases.

·        However, accused in 13,813 cases were acquitted. This means that conviction rate in rape cases was just 25.5%.

·        This again reiterates the failure of the database to include the potential offenders.

·        Updated registry – The criminal justice system is already under-staffed and under-resourced.  

·        At this juncture, it would be very difficult to keep the registry updated.

·        Disincentivises reform – The database is graded, retaining data on “low danger” offenders for 15 years, those offering “moderate danger” for 25 years, and habitual offenders for their lifetime.

·        It gives no option for the offender to reform.

Innovative model

·        The Canadian National Sex Offender Registry, which offers an opt-out option — after paying the debt to society, offenders can be delisted if they convince a judge that they no longer present a threat, would be a great model to emulate for India.

·        Also, the focus needs to be shifted to tackling barriers to reporting, training law enforcement officials and providing support to survivors.

Kindly review. 

Kindly review

Kindly review. Thanks.