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Minor boy from Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha killed after unnatural sex, say police
The 13-year-old boy’s body was thrown into a river by a 36-year-old man after he forced the child into “unnatural sex” last week.
A 13-year-old boy was killed and his body thrown into a river by a 36-year-old man after he forced the child into “unnatural sex” last week in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh, which recorded the second highest number of cases of sexual abuse against children in the country in 2015, police said on Monday.
Virendra Singh, sub-inspector at Kurwai police station who is investigating the case, told the Hindustan Times that the boy’s body was fished out from the local river on November 4.
The incident occurred under the jurisdiction of Kurwai police station in Vidisha district, 57km from state capital Bhopal.
“During the preliminary investigation, it was found that the boy was last seen with one Jagdish Ahirwar of the same village on November 3. During sustained questioning, Jagdish Ahirwar confessed that he had committed unnatural sex with the minor after which he strangulated him and threw the body into the river,” he said.
In the Indian Penal code, unnatural sex refers to acts such as sodomy.
Singh said they have arrested Ahirwar and booked him for the boy’s murder. “After we get a copy of the medical examination that establishes the unnatural sex, we will also add section 377 against Ahirwar in this case,” he said
There were 1,687 cases registered under the Protection of Children under Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act in 2015 in Madhya Pradesh after Uttar Pradesh which reported 3078 cases, says the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in the most recent published figures.
There were 1,568 cases of rape against minors in the central state putting it on the second place after Maharashtra, which reported 2231 such incidents. There were 39 cases of unnatural act with children under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code with Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Delhi being top three states.
The NCRB data in 2015 showed that almost 95% of child sex abuse crimes were committed by people known to the victims such as parents, relatives, neighbours and teachers.
Child sex abuse is widespread in India and a government survey in 2007 found that 53% of children had faced one or more forms of sexual abuse, but only a few reported the assault to anyone.
Activists say it is largely considered a taboo in India and ignored within families and that victims are often afraid to talk about it as they fear they will be blamed for the abuse.
