Are our children safe? Is it possible to identify potential abusers?

A young girl who was identified as the victim in five POCSO cases registered in Thenjipalam had recently committed suicide. The rising number of sexual crimes and violence against children indicates a deteriorating mental state of our society. Meanwhile, we try to explore and analyse the psychology of a child abuser. All developed societies deem children as their most significant assets, as they are the future of a nation. So, society often takes crimes against children quite seriously.

The POCSO Act was formulated to ensure that the victims get justice and are legally protected. Watching child pornography too is a crime under this Act. Such violent acts against children could have long–term repercussions not only on their psyche but also wreck the well-being of a society. However, such incidents often go unreported, probably due to shame, complex legalities, the victim’s relationship with the perpetrator or the influence of the accused.

Parents are hesitant to seek legal remedies considering the child’s future; however, this gives the accused a chance to escape the law. The psychological scars of the victim are often deeper and graver than their physical wounds. It could even lead to problematic behaviour or mental illness in the future. Some of them might even turn into child molesters and paedophiles themselves. The victims are often forced stay silent for years possibly due to shame or lack of knowledge.

Unfortunately, scientific/medical intervention or counselling is scarcely available in our country for the victims. The crime is often exposed only when the victim gets pregnant, but such cases are rare. The molesters are encouraged when these crimes go unreported, and the data is incomplete due to this. Moreover, society is hardly kinder to the victims, as it doesn’t hesitate to judge even a child. Paedophiles take advantage of the child’s physical and mental weakness to prey on them.

A molester’s psychology
Two types of people exploit children sexually. One group of people are attracted to all, irrespective of the victim’s age. They prey on children only when they can’t molest grown-ups. They might have personality disorders, impulse control disorder or might even be teenagers, drug addicts or mentally ill. The second group of people are paedophiles who are sexually attracted to children. Paedophiles are again divided into paedophilic, hebephiliac and ephebophilic.

Paedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult experiences sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Meanwhile, hebephilia is a sexual attraction to pubescent children, typically between the ages of 11 and 14. Ephebophilia is a sexual interest in mid to late adolescents, especially between the ages of 15 and 19. Data reveal that around 50 per cent of such people either molest children or are interested in watching child pornography. The remaining 50 per cent limit their desires to just imagination. They are not likely to sexually molest or assault children. So, it is difficult to identify them in our society.

What can we do?
Being alert as a society is the primary way to stop such crimes.
1) Creating awareness among children to keenly observe everyone and encouraging them to have agency over their own bodies. Some schools teach about good touch and bad touch even in smaller classes. Besides, children are trained in martial arts to defend themselves. These can protect the children from sexual violence to a certain extent.
2) The authorities should demonstrate the willpower and determination to effectively implement the POCSO Act. Awareness campaigns should be conducted for children of all ages.

3) Although schools arrange classes with experts for their teachers, such initiatives are inefficient at the government level. Counselling facilities should be strictly arranged at schools.
4) Social awareness programmes should be conducted at the basic or panchayat levels. It is inevitable in the modern age that we should become an evolved society that protect its children. Children should be considered and respected as individuals and their rights should be protected. Those who indulge in such crimes should be punished as per the law. Meanwhile, the victim’s privacy should be protected. Moreover, we can also hope that the fast-track courts can deliver swift justice to children who are victims of sexual violence. We as a society need to vow that no child is molested or sexually assaulted in heinous ways.
The writer is a consultant psychiatrist at the Medical Trust Hospital, Ernakulam.