News

Concerns raised on life-time registration under Sex Offenders Bill

July 17, 2019 7:15 am

The Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights will be in Sigatoka today to carry out public consultations on the Registration of Sex Offenders Bill.

This week, the committee has traveled to Navua and Namosi holding awareness sessions on the Bill and receiving submissions from residents on their concerns and support or otherwise for the proposed legislation.

Under the Bill, all convicted sex offenders will be registered on a data base which will be held with the Police Commissioner and the Commissioner of Corrections Service.

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Committee Chair Alvick Maharaj says the life-time registration of offenders has raised some concern.

“Yes, there have been certain people who have suggested that there should be a time-frame given to the offense that is created and the name should actually appear for a certain number of years and then it should be removed from the Register, that is something that actually the committee is deliberating on and we’ll see actually what the committee decides in regards to that.”

Under the proposed legislation, all convicted sex offenders will be registered on the data base for life and as a consequence, would have to ensure their details of residence and work are updated in addition to reporting regularly to their closed police station.