The High Court of Kerala has directed the state government and the CBSE to implement a prevention-oriented programme on sexual abuse in its curriculum from the next academic year.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas said it was imperative to have such a programme as a facet of the Right to Education envisaged under Article 21A of the Constitution of India.

The court was considering a bail application on an incident of aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a petitioner on a 15-year-old, who became pregnant.

The court observed that the existing awareness programmes had not yielded the desired results as even terms such as 'good touch' and 'bad touch' were often ambiguous.

"These wide terms may require better categorisation like "safe touch", "unsafe touch", "unwanted touch", etc, not only to identify abuses but also to avoid false or wrong accusations", the court said.

The court order referred to 'Erins Law', a legislation in the US named after Erin Merryn-a child abuse survivor that mandated all schools to implement prevention-oriented child sex abuse programmes.

As per the court's suggestion, Erin's Law can be used as a guideline by Kerala and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) while launching its programme.

"The State of Kerala and the CBSE shall issue necessary and appropriate orders making it mandatory for every school under its control and within the territory of Kerala to include a prevention-oriented programme on sexual abuse as a mandatory part of the curriculum.” ruled the court.

It has directed the state government to set up an experts' committee to identify the mode and methodology as the existing methods had to evolve beyond the provisions of the POCSO Act to educate about sexual offences systematically.

"The Committee of Experts shall submit its recommendations within an outer period of six months from its formation, and appropriate orders shall thereafter be issued by the State of Kerala and the CBSE in tune with the recommendation to implement the programme from the academic year 2023-24," the court said.

The court said the alarming rise in the number of sexual offences committed against school children requires introspection.

"Many a time, the perpetrators are youngsters. Young children indulge in such offending acts for manifold reasons varying from pre-planned crimes to natural inquisitiveness of adolescence and some arising out of amorous relationships," it said.

"At times the sexual acts are committed with the belief that the consent of both partners is sufficient to absolve them from the crime. By the time they realise their assumptions to be mistaken notions, it is too late in the day, and the situation becomes destructive, leading to very inconvenient results and beyond any remedial measures", the court said.
(With agency inputs)