Proposed National Sex Offender Registry

Seeing the recent increase in sexual crimes, the NDA Government has proposed to create a National Sex Offenders Registry, which will contain certain details about the sex offenders. The list shall even include juveniles. By adopting this step, the government aims to follow the footsteps of countries like US and UK where this registry is highly functional.

Although the proposal for this Registry was given by the UPA government after the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case, it did not come into shape at that time. It gained impetus after the juvenile rapist in Nirbhaya case was to be released in December 2015 after serving a jail term of three years. There was a lot of hue and cry on his release, but the Delhi High Court nevertheless decided in favour of release, citing the law in force in India. Thus, a lacuna in the law was identified then and steps are being taken to do away with the lacuna. The move has also been welcomed by the Women and Child Development Minister, Maneka Gandhi.

Key Features of National Sex Offenders Registry

National Sex Offender Registry is a database created by the governments of various countries to keep a record of the sex offenders.

Details of Offenders: The record in India is to contain the following details:

• Photographs
• Addresses
• PAN Card details
• Aadhaar card number
• Fingerprints
• DNA Samples
• Details of any nickname or pseudonym
• Travel and other immigration documents.

All these details shall be published in the National Crime Records Bureau website.  The citizens can access the details through the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) from a Citizens Portal.

The offenders- The details of the offenders who have been convicted for offences like rape, voyeurism, stalking to rape and sexual assault shall be recorded. These offenders would not include those who have

Sex offender registries by other countries

Such registries are being operational in some English speaking countries like Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Canada and few more on the same lines. But United states and South Korea have gone a step further by making the sex offender registry public so that the community gets aware of presence of the sex offender in their locality. The registry can be access through internet and it will provide the name, photo, physical appearance, and residence of the sex offenders near them. The Indian minister also vouched for a similar system which will enable public to access the information related to sex offenders in their area.

Does the sex offender registry stops sex crimes?

Making the registry public inculcate a sense of security in the public or the community but they have failed to reduce significant number of sex crimes. In United States there are strict registrations laws for 30 years now but several studies shows that these registries are not reducing sex crimes. One study in 2010 by J J Prescott and J E Rockoff concluded that the basic registration of sex offenders only resulted in lowering the sex crimes i.e. reoffending by 1.1%. But when the registry was made public then the opposite effect was seen and there was increase in cases of reoffending. Both noted that such laws hardens sex offenders and makes them more likely to commit more sexual offences because criminal behaviour is attractive to registered sex offenders who lives under tracking.

Hardships faced by sex offenders

As these registries are giving no positive outcome in turn, it poses serious difficulties to the former sex offenders. As they are registered and their information is accessible by the public, former convicts finds it difficult of find employment so that they can sustain and place for residenceas many area/localities are branded as “sex offender free zone”. They also face threat, violence and harassment from the people of the community where they live. They are termed as former sex offenders which has a stigmatising effect on their life also resettlement and living a dignified life after completing the sentence is not possible.

The Indian Minister also wants to include juveniles, persons standing on trial and also the accused persons in the register. Being only accused of the offence does not make her/him the offender and registering them will violate civil rights and a bad impact on their life. Similarly putting children on the register is also  violation of rights under constitution and international obligations under UN Convention for the Rights of Child.

Issues in current system used in India

The issue of criminalising of consensual sex intercourse with minors and between minors under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. If two minors have consensual sex intercourse with each other, they can be imprisoned for seven years under this law. A study shows that most cases relating to this issue are filed by the objecting parents. So the issue of being on register for having consensual sex intercourse for lifetime has to be addressed.

To tackle the incidence of sexual offences the failures in different areas like registration of complaint, conviction rate, fast justice etc. has to be addressed. According to National Crime Records Bureau 2015, the conviction rate of rape offence is 29% or worse and 82% rape cases are pending. A study conducted by centre of child and the law on the functioning of children’s court in New Delhi it was found that the 67% of the victims does not testify against the accused and only 16% was the rate of conviction of child sex abuse cases.

In this backdrop the strengthening of the current system is needed then the introduction of new systems like sex offender registry can be thought.