India to join club having sex offenders data

New Delhi, April 21: India will join a club of eight countries with a sexual offender database to monitor and track those convicted of such crimes, amidst growing criticism against it in the US, where it is pursued aggressively.

The Cabinet todayon Saturday approved promulgation of the Criminal Law ( Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 to award death sentence to child rapists and said that the National Crime Records Bureau will maintain a national database and profile of sexual offenders.

This data will be regularly shared with states and Union Territories for tracking, monitoring and investigation, including verification of antecedents by police.

Many organisations such as the Human Right Watch and ACLU have spoken out against the sex offenders registry, claiming that it negates the concept of rehabilitation and perpetuates social stigma.

“Government statistics ( in the US) indicate that most sexual abuse of children is committed by family members or trusted authority figures, and by someone who has not previously been convicted of a sex offence.

“In India, too, children are often sexually abused by people known to them and regarded as authority figures. The government must ensure implementation of existing measures... Including enforcement of the POCSO Act,” Jayshree Bajoria, author of Human Rights Watch report documenting barriers to justice for sexual assault survivors in India, told PTI.

While the registry in the US is public, in other countries such records are mainatined for law enforcement agencies.