SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

The Goa Children’s Act 241 addresses many aspects of pornography not found in national
legislation. Notably, the Act criminalizes making children pose for the production of
pornography, deeming it a form of sexual abuse. This follows from article 2 (y) (i) of the Act.
It is also stated in that unaccompanied children under the age of 14 years are not allowed to
use cyber cafés, and penalizes those entrepreneurs who allow children access to prohibited
Internet sites and to any ‘objectionable media’ on film, video and other electronic form. This
follows from article 13(16)(17)(18). The Act also requires photo and film processing
laboratories to report child pornography to the police. Article 8(14) states that “...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 a police officer...”. In
addition, article 13(15) of the Act established a Special Advisory Group with the aim to
suggest ways to protect children from the harmful influences of the Internet.
5.2.4 Other forms of sexual exploitation
5.2.4.1 Prostitution
Almost all cases of children working in prostitution are registered under the ITPA and the
ITPA Amendment Bill of 2006. A magistrate then decides how to handle the case, such as
whether or not to prosecute or confine the child for rehabilitation. The Act does not prohibit
prostitution as such, but criminalizes the mechanisms by which prostitution is conducted
(keeping a brothel, engaging others in prostitution and soliciting for prostitution). It aims to
punish third parties who benefit from prostitution, such as brothel owners and traffickers, as
well as clients. The term ‘prostitution’ is ambiguously defined in the ITPA as the “sexual
exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes’, and there is no reference to ‘child
prostitution”. The Act does not distinguish whether the person in prostitution is male or
female.
The ITPA is primarily concerned with adult women in prostitution and includes no provisions
directly relating to children. The law does not state whether children in prostitution are
victims or offenders. Thus a literal reading of the Act could allow prosecution of a child
victim of sexual exploitation. In fact, as one analyst noted,
The Mumbai High Court found that children rescued from brothels should be
treated as victims in need of care and protection, but that children ‘soliciting’
or ’voluntarily’ in prostitution should be treated as child offenders under the
Juvenile Justice Act. 242
5.2.4.2 Exploitation in travel and tourism
The Goa Children’s Act 2003, article 10 seeks to address child sexual exploitation in travel
and tourism by obligating tourism industry operators to reduce opportunities for child sexual
exploitation by tourists. These include forbidding children to enter or stay in hotels or
241 www.goagovt.nic.in/documents/goachildact2003.pdf, accessed on 16 March 2010
242 Prerana versus State of Maharashtra, Criminal Writ Petition 788 of 2002, Mumbai Height Court.
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