Three cases of children, including a two-year-old, being abused sexually were reported from the city in a space of five days from March 11 to 16. There were immediate arrests in all three cases, but whether the arrests have addressed the issue remains a question, considering the number of such cases reported in the recent past in the city.
Fr. Joy James, Chairman, Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Thiruvananthapuram, says the cases could be just the proverbial tip of an iceberg.
The CWC itself has 48 cases of sexual abuse of children recorded from Thiruvananthapuram in 2014. There are many cases that go unreported because of several reasons, including traumatised children keeping quiet.
The three cases in the city pointed to one fact — children are not safe either in their homes or outside. While it was a regular errand to a neighbourhood store that resulted in the molestation of a 10-year-old boy by the shopkeeper under the Medical College police limits, another 10-year-boy, who is still in a critical condition at a hospital, was repeatedly tortured and forced for unnatural sex by his stepfather, near Malayinkeezhu. Then there was the instance of a two-year-old allegedly falling prey to the perverted attempts of a drug addict near Kovalam.
Still at large
That is not all. While the accused in these cases were held, there has been no arrest after two men abused an eight-year-old girl in a lorry parking area at Vallakkadavu in January 2014. The men, reportedly lorry drivers, who lured the child with sweets and books into a lorry as she was returning home from a shop, are still absconding.
In another case in July 2014, a 10-year-old girl, under psychiatric treatment for two years at the Medical College Hospital, suddenly turned hysterical when she saw a security guard there. Counselling revealed that he, a former neighbour, had raped her two years ago. It was the trauma that destabilised her.
The 55-year-old man, who was arrested, later confessed to the crime. The child is yet to recover.
