As many as 38 cases of sexual abuse and rape of minors, including one of a three-and-a-half year old girl, have been registered under the Prevention of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act from January till date this year in the State Capital.
The three-and-a- half year-old survivor, who is a resident of Ormanjhi, is the youngest girl in whose case POCSO Act was registered in the city. She was raped by none other than her 18-year-old cousin who is now absconding. The case came to light on Friday when the matter reached Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Ranchi.
Chairperson of Ranchi CWC Rupa Kumari said, “There has been a sudden increase in the number of cases under POCSO Act this year as compared to previous years and the numbers are quite shocking. Also, interesting thing is that the cases are increasing every month by at least 10 percent.”
She added, “Most of these cases are from the rural areas but we cannot say that there are no cases registered in urban areas.”
The most complicated among POCSO Act cases are those of survivors below 10 years of age. “It is very difficult to take their statement as most of the time, they do not even know what happened to them.”
The CWC bench informed that the POCSO cases are of two types, one where the survivor is below the age of 12 years and the other where they are above 12. “In the cases of children below 12 years, the offenders are mostly family members or neighbours. However, among the older children, there are more cases of love affair and rape on the promise of marriage,” informed CWC member Srikant Kumar.
The CWC bench believes that while the increase in number of cases shows that the awareness in society has increased and now people are stepping out to report such cases, there is still much more need of awareness.
“There is a need of awareness among police, village level child protection committees and citizens. While the police are more active in these cases, there have been many instances where we had to intervene to get FIRs lodged,” said Tanushree Sarkar, CWC member.
CWC members pointed out that many a time the parents do not want to register case due to the societal pressure. “Even if the child tells mother what happened, the mother hushes her up as the offenders are usually relatives. They also try to settle the matter at the panchayat level instead of taking it to the police,” said Sarkar. She gave a recent example in which a 12 year old girl was raped by a relative but the panchayat decided that if the relative takes care of the medical expenses and the girl recovers then the matter should be closed.
Chairperson Rupa Kumari said that lack of awareness about existence of CWC, a body especially appointed for the welfare of children. “It is not just the common people who do not know about us but many a times we have to introduce ourselves to the police as well in order to get FIRs registered. The government is working towards spreading awareness but more is needed to be done,” she said.
Kumari added, “We are planning a meeting with officers in charge of all the 40 police station in Ranchi to discuss with them the cases under POCSO Act and inform them about the functioning of CWC. We would be writing a letter to the DC for the same.”
(This report is part of NFI media awards 2019)