KOCHI : While Kerala is discussing ‘gender equality’ and witnessing various protests in this regard, when coming to child sexual abuse cases, the girl-boy ratio is almost proportionate since boys are equally or even more at risk of being abused.
According to the 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 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.