Resource and Development Centre on Child Rights Director Rev Sr Dulcin Crasta said that 53 per cent of women abuse male children as against 27 per cent of men who abuse female children.
The director was quoting a survey that refuted the general notion that it was always men who abuse girl children.
She mentioned the survey and its study results at a seminar on ‘Issues and Concerns Regarding Women and Children’, organised by the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW) at St Aloysius College in the City on Sunday.
She said that in 98 per cent of the cases, the children would have been sexually abused by persons known to them. “The abuse takes place only at the fourth or fifth level – that is, much after the abuser (usually a person close to the family) takes the child into confidence. The victim (child) will also never reveal the act to anybody, mostly out of fear that nobody would believe his or her accusations,” said the director.
She appealed to parents to keep an eye for anything unusual in the behaviour of their sons or daughters. “The 3,000 odd cases registered under POCSO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) Act in Karnataka is only the tip of the iceberg,” Sr Crasta said.
She said that Mangaluru has registered the second highest number of cases under the POCSO Act – after Bengaluru – in Karnataka.
“It is the responsibility of every citizen to bring any incident of child sexual abuse to the knowledge of the authorities concerned. If a person comes to know about acts of sexual abuse on a child and if the person does not inform the authorities concerned, then the person too is to be considered party to the crime,” she warned, quoting the seriousness of the POCSO Act, which is tried in a special court to get quick justice.
Capt John Prasad Menezes, president of the Catholic Association of South Kanara (CASK), who spoke on ‘Victimisation of Women’, narrated a case study on how some authorities tortured two women mentally for no fault of the women.
Mabel Sequeira, a resident of the City, narrated how she was humiliated by the church authorities for helping victims, on the other hand.
Dr Derek Lobo, the immediate past president of the CASK, spoke on the emerging trends, especially the succession laws and the need to ordain women as priests,
Earlier, Lovely Yeldose, Regional Secretary of the CBCI Council for Women (Karnataka), inaugurated the seminar and gave an outline of the present crime scenario in the State, especially pertaining to women and children.
Hilda Alva, Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW) president, spoke on the need for organising the seminar.
DH News Service
