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As cases of sexual crime against minor girls increase in Pune, government plans to formulate new policy
PUNE Maharashtra school education minister Varsha Gaikwad on Thursday said during the ongoing assembly session that the government was working on formulating a policy to ensure safety of girls in schools
PUNE Maharashtra school education minister Varsha Gaikwad on Thursday said during the ongoing assembly session that the government was working on formulating a policy to ensure safety of girls in schools.
“As the head of the school education department, I assure you that we are working to formulate a new policy so that a healthy atmosphere is maintained for girls inside schools,” Gaikwad said. She did not reveal further details of the policy.
The minister was responding to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator Sunil Tingre, who raised the issue of the safety of the school-going girls in the context of a case of sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl inside her school premises on Wednesday.
“This has been the second such incident of the atrocities against school students. The minor girl was raped in a toilet. It’s high time to do something for the safety of the school girls,” the Wadgaon Sheri MLA said raising a point of order after the question hour in legislative assembly.
On March 23, the Shivajinagar police registered a case of rape against an unidentified man, who reportedly sexually assaulted an 11-year-old student of class 6, inside her school. On March 18, a school counsellor filed a complaint after an 11-year-old girl revealed during a session on ‘good-touch, bad-touch’ that she had been sexually assaulted by four members of her family, including her father and teenage older brother, on several occasions.
In Pune, cases of crimes against women and children have seen a spike in 2021, when 142 cases were reported. In 2020, 102 cases were reported. To be sure, during the national lockdown in 2020, reporting of crimes went down across all categories.
Among minor survivors of sexual assault, 110 cases were reported 2020 while 137 cases were reported in 2021. Last year, 279 cases were registered under Section 376 of IPC and of those, 137 were under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
“Crimes against children can be prevented through institutional involvement including the minor’s family. There is an urgent need for sensitisation of the prosecution as well as the investigating agencies, to increase the rate of conviction as that acts as a deterrent to prevent such crimes. In addition, it needs to be compulsory in educational institutions for children to be made aware of their legal rights as well as the sort of actions that are offences according to the POCSO act,” Vijayalaxmi Khopade, a criminal lawyer who deals with POCSO cases, said.
The Shivajinagar police have formed three teams to nab the suspect in Wednesday’s assault. In the case of the minor whose family members allegedly assaulted her, the police have arrested the minor’s grandfather and distant relative (another accused in the case) and detained her older brother. A team has been sent to Bihar to arrest the minor’s father.
Parents associations in Pune have demanded CCTV cameras be made mandatory inside all schools. Jayshree Deshpande, president of the Parents Association of Pune said that though cases against minors were on the rise, getting justice from the courts against perpetrators took too long.
“We are already asking ministers to pass resolutions in schools to make CCTVs mandatory. Such cases are increasing and punishment takes a long time. It is important to make parents aware of this issue. The school management, students, teachers and staff must fully understand this issue. Confidence has to be built amongst school children. The women’s protection committee of police stations must take the lead in stepping up vigilance in schools for safety and security of the students,” she said.
According to legal experts dealing with cases of sexual assaults, many crimes also occur over the internet.
Shubhangi Deshmukh, special public prosecutor working in a special POCSO court, said that the lockdown brought with it a major shift in the way mobile phones were used.
“They were exposed to virtual predators who pretend to be suitors. In 80% of the cases of child sexual assault and child molestation, the accused is known to the victim. They find it difficult to tell the difference between a predator and a genuine person,” the lawyer said.
(With inputs from Surendra P Gangan)
