Only 2.8% of all the instances of sexual crimes against children in 2017 were reported to be committed against boys, indicating that most cases remain undisclosed.
The data emerged from the first gender disaggregated enumeration of such crimes by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB).
The report, published earlier this month, recorded 33,549 crimes committed against girls under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2017, and 956 against boys.
Larger social issue
Activists say that while reporting of sexual crimes against both boys and girls has always been low, the minimal reporting in cases involving boys is a reflection of a larger social problem.
“The NCRB data reflects a larger societal problem where sexual violence is considered to be a very gendered crime — especially where children are concerned. Parents need to acknowledge that boys are vulnerable, create a congenial atmosphere for boys to disclose abuse and provide them a protective environment like they do for girls,” said Vidya Reddy of Tulir- Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse (CPHCSA).
A survey commissioned by the Centre on child abuse in 2007 showed that of a total of 12,447 children in 13 States surveyed for the report, 53.22% had faced one or more forms of sexual abuse. Of these, 52.94% were boys and 47.06% were girls. It also showed that across genders, only 5.69% of the survivors reported the crime to the local police.
But the NCRB report shows that only 1.02% of the total 17,780 aggravated penetrative sexual assault cases against children were those where boys were brutalised.
The police also do not invoke the POCSO Act in cases of sexual assault against children and merely file a case under the Indian Penal Code. For example, of the 17,557 cases registered for child rape in 2017, in as many as 10,059 cases, the POCSO Act was not invoked.
