Section 8 of Goa Childrens Act, 2003

Child Abuse [and trafficking] [Inserted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].]. (1) All children should be assured of a safe environment. A safe environment is an environment in which he/she will not be abused in any way and his/her development will be nurtured. (1A) [ Child Trafficking shall be an offence punishable under this Act. Any person who commits or aids or abets in the child trafficking shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and a fine which may extend to Rs. 1,00,000/-;] [Inserted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] (2) Whosoever commits any [child abuse or sexual assault] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] as defined under this Act, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term that may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine of Rs. 1,00,000/-. Whoever commits any Grave Sexual Assault shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term that shall not be less than [ten years] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] but which may extend to [life imprisonment] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] and shall also be liable to a fine of Rs. 2,00,000. Whoever commits incest shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term that shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to life imprisonment and also a fine which may extend to Rs. 2,00,000/- [Statement of the child victim shall be treated on par with the statement of a child rape victim] under Section 375 of the IPC, as laid down by the Supreme Court of India. (3) [In cases of sexual assault on a child, the investigating authorities shall ascertain the need to medically examine the child victim in consultation with the medical authority. In cases of child abuse or grave sexual assault on a child, such medical examination of the victim child shall be compulsorily done.] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] (4) [No person shall reside with or keep with him, either wholly or partly, one or more children who are not related to him by blood, unless prior permission has been obtained by him from the Director after furnishing due information to the Director in the prescribed form. It shall be the responsibility of such person, desirous to reside with or keep child or children not related to him by blood, to inform the Director and to obtain prior written permission from the Director for doing so.] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] (5) Provided that a period of 3 months from the commencement of this Act will be allowed to inform the Director. (6) [The Competent Authority, the Director and the Special Officers shall have the powers to authorize the Officer-in-charge of the nearest police station or District Inspection Team to inspect and check] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] the child/children in each case under sub-section (4) and to submit a report with recommendations, if he considers it necessary. (7) [The Competent Authority or the Director or the Special Officer, as the case may be, shall, after considering the report of the police or the District Inspection Team and having been satisfied of the necessity to do so, issue an order to remove the child and place him in a registered Children's Home or a State run Institution.] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].]. (8) Provided further that nothing in this section shall apply to cases where reasonability exists such as when the child/children are staying with their friends or visiting them on holidays for short period, or students are in a group, or the child is legally adopted etc. (9) [Whoever resides with or keeps with himself one or more children not related to him by blood without the prior written permission of the Director or whoever prevents officers from discharging their duties under sub-section (6) shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and to a fine which may extend to Rs. 1,00,000/-.] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] (10) Onus on Establishment. - (a) All Hotels, and other establishments which provide boarding or lodging or any similar facility shall ensure that children are safe and not at risk of child abuse within their premises including all adjoining beaches, parks etc. if they have access from such establishment. (b) No child shall be allowed to enter any room of any hotel or establishment which provides boarding or lodging or any similar facility unless the child is registered as staying in that room with family, relatives or person related by blood: Provided that nothing in this sub-section will be deemed to apply to reasonable areas such as group of school children accompanied by a teacher(s), children who may be staying with their friends and their families, etc. (c) All Hotels and other establishments which provide boarding or lodging or any similar facility shall ensure that no child has access to any internet facilities which are not fitted with filters and to any objectionable material including through film or videos, disc-players, cable or any other medium provided by that establishment. (d) The Owner and the Manager of the hotel or establishment shall be held solely responsible for any [contravention] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] of this section. (e) [ Whoever fails to comply with or contravenes the provisions of this sub-section shall be liable for punishment with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and a fine which may extend to Rs. 1,00,000/-.] [New clause inserted Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] (11) [omitted] [Omitted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] (12) Any form of soliciting or publicizing or making children available to any adult or even other children for purposes of commercial exploitation is prohibited. This includes hosting websites, taking suggestive or obscene photographs, providing materials, soliciting customers, guiding tourists and other clients, appointing touts, using agents, or any other form which may lead to abuse of a child. (13) Whosoever commits the offence of sale of children or aids or abets the sale of a child or the body part/organ of a child, or where there is sufficient reason to believe is keeping a child for the purpose of using or selling any body part of the child including its blood, shall be punished by [imprisonment of either description for a period of not less than three years and extendable to seven years and a fine which may extend to Rs. 1,00,000/-.] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] (14) It shall be mandatory for a developer of photographs or films, if he finds that the photos/films developed by him contain sexual/obscene depictions of children, [to report this to the Officer-in-Charge of the nearest police station] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].], Failure to report the discovery of such photos/films shall attract a penalty of an imprisonment of either description which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to three years and/or a minimum penalty of Rs. 50,000/-. (15) [The District police, airport authorities, border police, railway police and traffic police shall report any suspected case of (a) child abuse or (b) an adult travelling with or keeping a child under suspicious circumstances or (c) sale of children or (d) sexual offence with a child or (e) child trafficking, to the Officer in-charge of the nearest police station who shall immediately take cognizance of such case and proceed with investigation. He shall also report the case to a Special Officer or to the Director for action under sections 14 and 15, if so required.] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] (16) Sale of children [* * *] [The words 'under the grab of adoption or otherwise' omitted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] shall be prohibited. For the purposes of this Act, sale of children takes place,- (a) when there is trading, i.e. selling children; (b) when a pregnant mother executes an affidavit of consent for adoption for a consideration; (c) when a person, agency, establishment or child-caring institution recruits women or couples to bear children for the purposes of child trafficking; (e) when a doctor, hospital or clinic official or employee, nurse, midwife, local civil registrar or any other person creates birth records for the purpose of child trafficking; or (f) when a person engages in the act of finding children among low-income families, hospitals, clinics, nurseries, day-care centres, or other child-caring institutions, who can be offered for the purposes of child trafficking; (17) [omitted] [Sub-section 17 omitted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].]. (18) In all matters, the consent or willingness or otherwise of the child to be party to [any offence under this Act] [In place of words 'sexual abuse' substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] will not be a consideration. (19) The State shall provide for the setting up of one or more Victim Assistance Units which shall facilitate the child to deal with the trauma of abuse and assist the child in processes involved with appearing as a witness before any Court or authority handling a case of abuse of a child. (20) The State shall carry out child sensitisation programmes for police officers at all levels which shall include an orientation on child rights laws. Child rights laws and methods of handling child abuse related cases shall also be specifically included in the Police Training School curriculum. (21) The State shall undertake child sensitization training for those involved in healing and rehabilitation and other assistance programmes for children who are victims and promote programmes of information support and training for such children. (22) The Tourism Department of the Government shall collaborate with the Travel and Tourism Trade of Goa to evolve a Child Friendly Tourism Code for Goa; (23) The Government shall have the power to appoint persons to go undercover and pose as prospective clients for child prostitutes, as employers of child labour etc. and nothing done in the course of such operations shall be construed as a [contravention] [Substituted by Goa Children's (Amendment) Act, 2005 [Act No. 20 of 2005].] of the provisions of this Act.