DNA
19.4.2010

Minors are major rape targets in city: Cops

Mumbai: Rapes on minors have outnumbered those on women in the city, making the former more vulnerable and soft targets of the crime, a recent study has said.
Till February this year, the police had registered 36 rape cases of which 23 involve minors.

In 2009, a total of 182 cases were registered of which 128 were rapes of minors.
Of the 216 cases registered in 2008, 147 cases were of sexual abuse of girls below the age of 18.

According to Rajnish Seth, joint commissioner of police (law and order), such cases are on the rise as culprits feel they can easily overpower minor girls and then escape.
“In many cases, the culprit either is a relative, neighbour or someone living in the same locality,” he said. “The culprits feel they can get away by threatening the girls.”
Seth said that parents should be more alert and take care of who their children are interacting with.

According to Nadita Shah, co-director of Akshara, an NGO which is working for women issues, educating parents and minors about child sexual abuse is the need of the hour.
“When a child complains to her parents that a man or a boy is touching her or making her feel uncomfortable, they don’t take the complaints seriously,” Shah said. “Parents should not ignore what their child says.”

Shah claimed that the number of rapes of minors could be much higher. “Many complaints are not registered due to fear of social stigma,” she said.