Child is the prey of man.

Condemned to hysteria after being raped by her uncle continuously for months, the girl is now being helped back to sanity.

KOZHIKODE: For this 12-year-old, normal life is an uphill climb. Condemned to hysteria after being raped by her uncle continously for months, the girl is now being helped back to sanity. Her psychologist says it is a tough task for the child to recover from the mental trauma.

There are others, like a 10-year-old boy sexually assaulted by his teacher at school and a 11-year-old girl sexually abused by her father at home.

Their instances are among a rising number of sexual offences reported in the state against children.

The number of cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) in 2016 rose by almost 40 per cent, compared to 2015. The total number of POCSO cases in 2016 jumped to 2,093 from 1,569 the previous year.

Psychologists say, when a child is subjected to sexual abuse at an early age, the post-traumatic stress disorder haunts them in their later life too.

“The children are being subjected to intense stress in their lives leading to their personality loss,” Dr P N Suresh Kumar, professor of psychiatry at the KMCT Medical College, tells Express. 

“Perpetrators of these offences use threats or blackmail to commit the crimes. They are often in the sway of pornography. Coupled with the influence of drugs or alcohol, these minds can take a turn for the criminal bent.”

Suresh Kumar says psychologically-deviant persons such as psychopaths, sadists and sexual perverts crave to satisfy their sexual frustrations, which they attempt to do by sexually assaulting children.
“It also has to be noted, in most cases, the victims are from poor families and the offenders are their close ones,” he says.

Of the 14 districts, Malappuram tops the list with 241 cases. Kottayam, Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram (Rural) are other districts that witnessed an almost 50 per cent rise in the cases registered in 2016.
While acknowledging the gravity of the situation, State Police Chief Loknath Behra  cvattributes the increase to greater reporting of such crimes.

“Parents and teachers, unlike in the earlier days, have now become conscious and are coming forward to register complaints,” he says. The police force too is preparing to take up such cases with the sensitivity it requires.

“Police officers are being trained to handle cases where children are involved. There is a need to speed up investigations in these cases and the trials should be held in fast-track courts,” he says.