Law: Crimes against Women and Children, and Senior Citizens · RAS (Rajasthan)

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III (General Studies III), Unit III - Behavior and Law, Part B - Law, under “Crimes against Women and Children”:

Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005:
Sections 1-29, 31
Sexual Harassment at work place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013:
Sections 1-9, 11-20
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012:
Sections 1-15.
The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007:
Sections 1-25

Topics in detail

Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005

Section 2: aggrieved person, domestic relationship (by blood, marriage, a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption, joint family), shared household, respondent, Protection Officer, service provider
Section 3: domestic violence covers physical, sexual, verbal and emotional, and economic abuse, and dowry harassment
Sections 4 to 7: informing the Protection Officer; duties of police, service providers and Magistrates; shelter homes and medical facilities
Sections 8 to 11: Protection Officers and their duties (domestic incident report), service providers, duties of governments
Section 12: application to the Magistrate; first hearing usually within three days and disposal within 60 days
Sections 13 to 16: notice, counselling, welfare experts, proceedings in camera
Section 17: right to reside in the shared household
Sections 18 to 22: protection orders, residence orders, monetary relief, custody orders, compensation orders
Sections 23 to 28: interim and ex parte orders, free copies, duration and change of orders, relief in other proceedings, jurisdiction, procedure
Section 29: appeal to the Court of Session within 30 days
Section 31: breach of a protection order: imprisonment up to one year, or fine up to Rs 20,000, or both
Case law: the Supreme Court removed the words “adult male” from the definition of respondent (Hiralal P. Harsora, 2016)

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013

Background: the Vishaka guidelines (Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, 1997), arising from a case in Rajasthan
Section 2: aggrieved woman, employee, employer, domestic worker, workplace (including places visited in the course of work and transport provided), sexual harassment
Section 3: prohibition, and circumstances that amount to sexual harassment (promises, threats, interference with work, hostile or humiliating environment)
Section 4: Internal Complaints Committee in every office: a senior woman employee as Presiding Officer, employee members, one outside member from an NGO; at least half the members women
Sections 5 to 8: District Officer, Local Complaints Committee in each district (for workplaces with fewer than ten workers or complaints against the employer), its composition, grants
Section 9: complaint in writing within three months, extendable by three months
Section 11: inquiry, to be completed within 90 days; powers of a civil court
Section 12: interim relief during inquiry (transfer, leave)
Section 13: inquiry report and action by the employer within 60 days
Section 14: false or malicious complaints and false evidence (inability to prove a complaint is not malice)
Sections 15 to 17: compensation, confidentiality (outside the RTI Act), penalty for publication
Section 18: appeal within 90 days
Sections 19 and 20: duties of the employer and of the District Officer
Section 10 (conciliation) is not in the list of sections

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (sections 1 to 15)

Section 2: a child is any person below 18; the Act is gender-neutral
Sections 3 and 4: penetrative sexual assault and its punishment
Sections 5 and 6: aggravated penetrative sexual assault (by police, armed forces, public servants, staff of institutions, relatives, gangs; on children below 12, and other cases) and its punishment, which since 2019 can include death
Sections 7 and 8: sexual assault and its punishment
Sections 9 and 10: aggravated sexual assault and its punishment
Sections 11 and 12: sexual harassment of a child (words, gestures, showing pornography, stalking, threats) and its punishment
Sections 13 to 15: using a child for pornographic purposes, its punishment, and storing pornographic material involving a child
The 2019 amendment: higher minimum sentences

Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 (sections 1 to 25)

Section 2: children, maintenance, parent, relative, senior citizen (60 years or above), Tribunal, welfare
Section 3: overriding effect
Section 4: duty of children to maintain parents, and of relatives (who would inherit) to maintain a childless senior citizen
Sections 5 to 9: application, Maintenance Tribunal (presided over by an officer of Sub-Divisional Officer rank), summary procedure, maximum maintenance of Rs 10,000 a month
Sections 10 to 14: change of orders, enforcement, choice between this Act and the criminal procedure law, deposit and interest
Sections 15 and 16: Appellate Tribunal (District Magistrate level) and appeals
Section 17: no lawyers before the Tribunals; section 18: Maintenance Officer
Sections 19 to 22: old age homes (at least one per district), medical care, publicity and awareness for the welfare of senior citizens, authorities to implement the Act
Section 23: transfer of property void when the transferee fails to provide basic amenities
Sections 24 and 25: abandonment of a senior citizen (up to three months, or fine up to Rs 5,000, or both); offences cognizable and tried summarily