NEW DELHI: In a development that holds the potential of empowering adult survivors of child sexual abuse to take on their perpetrators many years after the crime, the minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi has said that there is no time limitation in law for reporting such offences. The WCD minister now wants the law ministry to “ratify” the same to enable survivors to take action and enforcement agencies to act with clarity.Gandhi in her letter to law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad last week, states that the statutes of limitation does not apply to reporting of child sexual abuse cases as the Pocso Act 2012 does not lay down a time-frame. “We are of the view that cases of child sexual abuse can be reported by the victim at any time and the law enforcement agencies would be required to take appropriate action on the complaint of such victims,” she has said.She has said the period of limitation for criminal offences is covered under CrPC. According to Section 473 of the CrPC, a court may take cognisance of an older case if it is in the “interest of justice” or if the “delay has been properly explained”. However, victims of child sexual abuse often face problems in registering an FIR once they are 18 or more. “Offences with higher punishment are not covered by the period of limitation under CrPC,” Gandhi says.