In a strongly worded order, the Madras High Court highlighted the high likelihood of child sexual abusers being individuals known to survivors and directed the state government to enact legislation that would impose severe punishments for such Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) violations.
The court was hearing the petition of a Pudhukottai man sentenced to life imprisonment for the sexual assault of his minor stepdaughter. The accused had approached the Madras High Court to overturn a trial court’s verdict. Dismissing his petition, the court slammed the accused and highlighted that in most POCSO cases, the perpetrators are family members, relatives, friends, neighbours or others well-known to the child.
Quoting National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the bench comprising Justices R Poornima and GR Swaminathan, said, “The most shocking news about child sexual abuse in India is that in 96% of the cases, the sexual abusers were known to the children. It is even more disturbing that most sexual abusers of minor children were family members, family friends or neighbours. Such offenders take advantage of the fact that they are in a dominant position and sexually abuse children continuously under threat or coercion. The parents of these children do not notice the [child’s] pain and change in attitude or behaviour.”
The judges also pointed out the mental toll on children subjected to sexual abuse such as the minor girl whose case they were presiding. “Various studies conducted by researchers reveal that sexually abused children experience clinically significant symptoms in the cognitive, physical, and behavioural domains. The acute psychological response to sexual abuse may include anxiety, fear, nightmares, withdrawal, cruelty, self-injuries, general behavioural problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), low self-esteem, etc.” The judges also point out long-term psychological impacts such as depressive and anxiety disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal ideations, disassociative disorders and more.
The role of social pressures and regressive notions such as ‘honour’ that worsen the betrayal faced by child survivors also did not escape the judges’ scrutiny. “Many cases go unreported due to the family’s prestige and future life of the child. Therefore, many accused escape without punishment. The majority of sexual offence cases go unnoticed and unreported on account of stigma, the callousness of the investigation etc.”
The judges further said: “In our society, till date, the girl who undergoes sexual assault is not treated equally with others but treated by society as if she committed a sin,” adding that this is the reason children are afraid to report sexual violence.
Concerning the minor girl whose case they were hearing, the judges came down heavily on the accused pointing out that the child’s mother had named him the father in official documents in the “hope that he would look after the child”, but that he “shattered her hope”. They added, “The trauma undergone by the victim who had believed a person from her childhood to be her father, shattered her expectations and caused her physical and physiological injury which is unexplainable. The physical injury could be healed by efflux of time but the mental agony undergone by the child would remain through her lifetime.”
Keeping this in mind, the court directed the state government to curtail such offences, particularly by perpetrators known to the survivor, by enacting legislation that would impose more severe punishments.
Further, the court also directed the government to provide funds for opening shelters specifically for survivors aged 1 to 17. The state must also conduct regular awareness programmes both in-person and online for children and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) must conduct regular checks in schools and hostels, the court also said.
