csa

Gender in Sexual  Abuse

Previous weekend CHILDLINE witnessed another sensational case that rocked the moral ethos of our very foundation. A child sexual abuse was reported from the outskirts of the capital city. The 13 year old boy was sexually abused and assaulted by one of his neighbours continuously for the past four years. Upon thorough evaluation, we found out that the abuser (neighbour) happened to be his close relative.   

The victim also had a younger brother, who was always left with many duties by the abuser during the day time. He was left to fetch different things by the neighbour and during his absence the victim was abused. On holidays, the abuser used to take him, to the former’s house for such unnatural activities.

But the father’s response regarding the matter baffled us completely. It was as if he was not interested in taking the case forward, and wanted to hush it up. The main reason the abuser happened to be their relative and the boy seemed alright. Even the people belonging to the locality seemed undeterred about the case. Since the victim, was a boy child, the problem failed to create a reasonable impact. Similar experiences in the case male children calls for deep thought.  

According to the latest data available with the state Home Department, 1,297 male sexual abuse cases were reported during the last five years - from May 18, 2011 to October 30, 2015 while 2,741 minor girls were sexually abused during this period. As per the figures, 293 male child abuse cases were reported till October 2015, 354 cases in 2014 and 286 cases in 2013.

Malappuram tops the table with 72 cases while Alappuzha comes second with 28 cases and Kasargod third with 27 cases. No such incident was reported in Kochi city police limits.

“Abusers prefer male child than girls as a safe option. Abusers experiment with the things they learn from the internet and other media on children,” said Dr Arun B Nair, associate professor, Department of Psychiatry, who conducted a research in this regard. “At present, many mild abuse cases go unreported,” he said.  The report, published in the Academic Medical Journal of India in February 2014, said boys were being abused more than girls: 38.67 per cent boys against 37.7 per cent girls according to the study conducted among 1,000 children in the age group of 13-16 years across the South Indian states.

The attitude of the society is such that often sexually abused male children are not given sufficient attention as that of girl children. People would prefer to hush it up than ‘endanger’ the good name of the family. Often the traumatised children are not given sufficient help to overcome their issues and later on they grow into abusive adults endangering the lives of many more children.

There is a serious need for sensitising the public to this issue and remove the gender bias about the same and take serious action against the offenders. Though the POCSO act is a gender neutral law the need of the hour is more awareness creation in this regard.