Cases of minor girls between 4-10 years of age being victims of sexual offences are on the rise, said a report conducted by Dr Ram Manohar lohia hospital.
After auditing the crime incidents against women registered at its Gynaecology Department for treatment in the last 18 months or so, the hospital found that out of the 40 odd cases of sexual offences, around 40 per cent were young patients between 4-10 years.
A doctor said, “About 40per cent patients are minor girls between the age group of 4-10 years. Since, these young patients narrated different stories to police and doctors during counseling, police officials asked doctors to counsel the victims again as there was disparity between the counseling done by the Delhi Police and the RMl doctors.”
Doctors then conducted the counseling of the patients in privacy and it was found that most of the incidents have happened when the children were mostly targeted by their neighbours’ and relatives. In a few cases they were even targeted by outsiders, said the doctor.
“Many a time children get scared after the incident and start telling lies. So, it becomes very important for us to get the truth about the incident. And, children also get influenced by the parents and family members too. The victims are mostly from the slum areas,” the doctor added.
When asked about these cases, Dr Pushpa Singh, the Head of Department of Gynaecology department, said “ The patients at One-Stop-Centre are given best possible care and the department is again preparing the report as desired by the police.”
The centre is dedicated for providing medical treatment to the sexual assault victims.