The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) records show that there was 82 per cent increase in the sexual assault cases against children in the year 2016.
The Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act reflects that the most number of minor sexual assault cases was reported in Madhya Pradesh (2,467), Maharashtra (2,292), Uttar Pradesh (2,115), Odisha (1,258) and Tamil Nadu (1,169) in 2016.
So the year 2018 doesn’t seem to be faring any better.
According to a report by child rights NGO CRY, the sexual offence is committed against a child in India every 15 minutes and there has been an increase of more than 50 per cent over the past 10 years in crime against minors.
The data of 2018 is also not so pleasant to look into. The Kathua sexual assault case of Jammu and Kashmir (eight-year-old victim), the Jind case of Haryana (fifteen-year-old girl), the Panipat case of an eleven years old girl, Surat case of an eleven years child and the lalunggaon case of Assam where the child was burnt to death are so shocking that it is beyond the thinking of any human mind.
The more disgusting part in most of the cases is that these minor girls were sexually abused and molested by someone they already know or someone who is known to their families.
Is there any answer to the question that these minor girls ever wear any type of revealing clothes that they invite rapeIJ In many a defending statement, it is heard in the court session that a woman is herself responsible to be a victim of this horrendous crime.
This proves that a woman is born only to fulfil the purpose of physical satisfaction and obsession and finally become a victim and left to meet her tragic end.
The experience of the long-term psychological and physical effects of the sexual assault is devastating. And they're likely intensified by the shame our culture insists on propagating. The victims suffer a loss of privacy and their credibility is also challenged defining a sociological impact. They become stigmatized within the cultures and get isolated. Social acknowledgement stands as the most important healing effect for these victims; but the sorry picture is that it is lacking.
A woman opens up all the chapters of her life to meet the need of the society in different roles. She could but only hide the sting of her life; which no literature can ever reveal the fact.
Justice Sujoy Paul of Madhya Pradesh High Court was considering a plea of a mother seeking a direction for terminating the pregnancy of his minor daughter who is allegedly a rape victim following the termination of pregnancy right flowing from Article 21 of the Constitution. But can this let go the anguish and the humiliation that the victim is going throughIJ The answer is a simple No.
It’s just true as an incident that confirms women’s position in the society as much lower than men and even after so many progressive laws in their support, perceptual changes in the society towards women has changed a very little. It’s all the women who in-fight with themselves to see how a world is possible in a large sphere. They have to find their way out to share the covert that the great minds of this bureaucratic system should accept.
The need is only the ray of hope that can enlighten the life of a woman in giving her a protective place to live in.
(Dr Das writes articles on issues of gender equality and women rights in national and international dailies. Earlier a teacher in Dubai, she is now based in Bhubaneswar. Subhashree.das1201@gmail.com)