Offences against child (ss. 88-99 BNS): miscarriage, the unborn and newborn child, abandonment, hiring a child for crime, procuration, sale and purchase for prostitution; POCSO, the JJ Act and child trafficking
LUG-106 Substantial Law of Crimes-I (The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 - I), Unit IV: Offences against child (ss. 91-97). · LLB · 60 min
The last part of Chapter V protects the child, now defined as any person under eighteen (s. 2(3)). The lecture begins with the miscarriage offences (ss. 88-90) as the lead-in, then takes ss. 91-99 one by one: preventing a child being born alive, killing a quick unborn child, exposing a child under twelve, concealing a birth, the new offence of hiring or employing a child to commit an offence (s. 95), procuration, kidnapping a child under ten to steal from it, and selling or buying a child for prostitution. It then places the Sanhita beside the three special laws the examiner expects: the POCSO Act, 2012 (which overrides the BNS), the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 (the child as offender: ss. 20-21 BNS, the 16-18 heinous-offence rule and Shilpa Mittal) and the trafficking provisions (s. 143 BNS, Bachpan Bachao Andolan).
Objectives
- Explain the miscarriage offences in ss. 88-90 and their relationship with the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971.
- Explain the ingredients and punishments of ss. 91-99 BNS and identify what the Sanhita changed (child of either gender, s. 95, heavier sentences).
- Explain how the POCSO Act, 2012 relates to the BNS: s. 42A overriding effect, s. 42 alternate punishment, the special court and the presumptions.
- Apply ss. 20-21 BNS and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 to a child offender, including the 16-18 rule for heinous offences and Shilpa Mittal.
- Describe child trafficking under s. 143 BNS and the directions in Bachpan Bachao Andolan v. Union of India.
Slides
- The child in the Sanhita: who is a child, and the scheme of ss. 88-99
- Causing miscarriage: ss. 88-90 (ss. 312-314 IPC)
- Sections 91-92: preventing a live birth; killing a quick unborn child (ss. 315-316 IPC)
- Sections 93-94: exposure and abandonment; concealment of birth (ss. 317-318 IPC)
- Section 95: hiring, employing or engaging a child to commit an offence (new)
- Sections 96-97: procuration of a child; kidnapping a child under ten to steal (ss. 366A, 369 IPC)
- Sections 98-99: selling and buying a child for prostitution (ss. 372-373 IPC)
- Child trafficking: s. 143 BNS (s. 370 IPC) and Bachpan Bachao Andolan
- The POCSO Act, 2012 and the BNS: the special law prevails
- The child as offender: ss. 20-21 BNS, the JJ Act, 2015 and Shilpa Mittal
- How the examiner asks it
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