The Kannur police arrested a 51-year-old man on Saturday for sexually abusing his step-granddaughter at their residence in Irikkur. The accused has been identified as a Kasaragod native who moved to Kannur for work a few years ago. He had married a second time and was living in Irikkur with his wife, her daughter and her 6-year-old daughter, who faced the sexual abuse.
According to the police complaint, in late March the 6-year-old child had revealed to her mother that she had been abused by the man in the rubber plantation near their house. Based on the mother’s complaint, an FIR was lodged against the accused at the Irikkur police station.
The Irikkur police also alerted the Kannur childline about the case. Following the complaint, the 6-year-old’s medical examination was completed and the accused was arrested from his residence in Irikkur by the police on Saturday night. He has been booked under sections 354 (A) (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment) and 363 (punishment for kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 8 (sexual assault) read with 7 (punishment for sexual assault) and 10 (punishment for aggravated sexual assault) read with 9 (m) (l) (whoever commits sexual assault on a child below 12 years) (whoever commits sexual assault on a child more than once) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
The accused has now been remanded to judicial custody and lodged in the Kannur Special Sub-jail.
The COVID-19 lockdown is reported to be one of the factors that has exposed vulnerable children to sexual abuse within homes.
The Kerala police have also reported a spike in the number of adults downloading child porn over the last few weeks since the lockdown. Based on statistics from the Countering Child Sexual Exploitation (CCSE) team of the Kerala police, the digital presence of child porn consumers has increased in the state following the nationwide lockdown, according to reports.
The CCSE team has collected the IP addresses of people in Kerala who have download Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). However, according to reports, the real numbers of online users consuming CSAM is believed to be much more.