National Commission for Women demands death penalty for paedophiles

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

The National Commission for Women has demanded stringent legislation to deter paedophiles from sexually abusing abandoned children.

NCW chairperson Mohini Giri blasted the Goan government for denying that child prostitution is on the rise in the tourist state. "I personally visited beaches like Baga, Anjuna and Vagator here," she revealed, "to confirm that children are being abused by foreign tourists."

Child vendors, in the age group of five to 10 years, admitted to Giri that some foreign tourists offer them attractive gifts. "The motive," she points out, "is to exploit them sexually."

Goa has been facing flak for increasing paedophilic activity ever since Freddy Peats, a supply agent for foreign paedophiles, was sentenced to life imprisonment last year. Though several similar cases were brought to light by NGOs working for the welfare of children, the local Congress government has consistently denied the fact. The NCW is now planning, with the help of NGOs, to conduct a detailed survey in this regard.

Giri, meanwhile, demanded that the minimum sentence for child abuse should be the death penalty and that legislation curbing paedophilic behaviour should also cover rape, molestation and other forms of sexual abuse. "A minimum of 2,500 children in every district of the country are being sexually abused today," she stated.

While objecting to medically examining a child for evidence of abuse, she said that children under 16 years should not be produced in court. Instead, their version should be accepted as the truth. She also felt that compulsory education upto the age of 14 would help children deal with paedolphiles.

The NCW is now planning to introduce parivarik mandal lok adalats (community peoples court) in Goa, on the lines of the 80 such courts held in the rest of the country to deal with civil and matrimonial cases of women's exploitation and harassment.

Giri reiterated that they would compell the central government to politically empower the Indian woman by offering her 33 per cent reservation of the seats in Parliament. Various women's organisations will conduct a nationwide demonstration on Saturday, March 1, to highlight this demand, she added.