The incident in which a Plus Two student was introduced to drugs and then sexually abused by a predator points to a seemingly unforeseen fallout of prolonged online education, the vulnerability of youngsters to the dangers posed by unrestrained access to social media.
In the instant case as well, the victim had reportedly met the accused, who was since then booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, over social media.
“Incidents in which vulnerable young girls are ensnared and exploited in the guise of affairs are being increasingly reported. The increased access to online, and shift of youngsters to drugs after the availability of alcohol was hit during the pandemic seem to have aggravated the situation,” said T.U. Kuriakose, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kochi City.
Cause for concern
Shijo Antony, counsellor with Vimukthi, the Excise department’s de-addiction campaign, confirms the trend of girls being introduced to drugs through affairs. Warning that addiction among girls may shoot up in the coming years, he cites feedback from school counsellors to reaffirm that the threat wasn’t unfounded.
Mahitha Vipinachandran, a school counsellor attached to the Women and Child Development department, observed that unlike in the past many girls seem to be drawn to men using alcohol and drugs seemingly out of the false notion about sex in the aftermath of substance abuse. “Plus Two students seem more vulnerable to fall into such dangerous affairs. The privacy offered by washrooms in metro stations is being exploited by young girls to change over to civil clothes after leaving homes in uniforms. Police personnel deployed at metro stations should remain watchful against this,” she said.
Fr. Joseph Parekkattil, director of Nirmal Nikethan Mukthi Sadan, a de-addiction centre for girls being run with the grant of the Social Justice department, said that affairs and the heartburn from failed affairs were found to be dominant causes for addiction among girls. The fact that the number of inmates at the centre has overshot its capacity of 20 perhaps points at the enormity of the challenge.
P.V. Aleyas, Deputy Excise Commissioner, Ernakulam, warns against the potentially dangerous mix of social media, affairs, and drugs. “Girls left unconscious after being fed with spiked soft drinks may wake up having no clue about what they were subjected to. They may eventually get addicted and even end up being carriers,” he said.
