Most minor rapes occur within family

Aizawl, May 31 (UNI) The lure of lucre on the part of many parents is taking its toll on children, experts here feel.

Incidence of rapes of children, in most cases by those close to them, is on the rise, according to them.

''Many parents in their eagerness to earn more totally neglect their children and leave them to the care of maids, leading to rising incidence of rapes on minors,'' Ms V Vanlalruati, a researcher, stated in her report 'Is your child safe?'.

Supporting her, Mr J T Vanlalngheta attributed the rising crimes on minors to the excessive involvement of parents in social organisations and churches, without caring about their children.

Addressing a seminar on 'Sexual Abuse on Child' here on Tuesday, Ms Vanlalruati informed that during the past five years, 95 per cent of rapes of minors had occurred within the family and the victims and rapists had known each other for a long time.

According to police records, 18 rapes on minors occurred in 2001, which shot up to 45 in 2002. The number further increased to 51 in 2003, but declined to 36 in 2004. While 21 such cases were recorded in 2005, it increased to 48 in 2006.

Mizoram Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Chairperson Lalengruali Sailo attributed the increasing rapes on minors to parents' negligence of their children and pointed out that most of the victims belonged to broken families.

''Of the 29 rape case complaints the CWC received, nine involved minors as both rapists and victims, while two cases involved same-sex rape,'' she revealed.

Another cause of these crimes was the lack of childrens' rights in the society, School Education Joint Director Lalhluna opined.

Mr Darthakunga of the Society for HIV/AIDS and Lifeline of Mizoram (SHALOM) said, ''Children need proper guidance so that they have the courage to report such exploitation. Such incidents will decrease significantly if the minor victims report to the concerned authorities.'' Speaking on the impact of rape on a child, Dr Vanlaldiki Ralte, a psychiatrist at the Aizawl Civil Hospital, said, ''Two out of every three rape victims are likely to develop psychological problems.

Priority should be accorded to help the victim regain mental stability, for which giving appropriate punishment to the rapist was crucial,'' she stressed.

Ms Lalparmawii of the VOLCOMH disclosed that most of the prostitutes she had interviewed confessed that they had been raped in their childhood.

The seminar was organised after a recent study - 'Child Abuse: India 2007' - which claimed that Mizoram was second only to Asom in child abuse. The study stated that as many as 84.64 per cent children in Mizoram had been abused physically adding that 16.2 per cent children suffered ''severe forms of sexual abuse,'' while 54.75 per cent had been subjected to ''other forms of sexual abuse.'' UNI