Hyderabad: Rachakonda commissionerate tops the list in the number of cases of rapes of minors, according to reports in last three months. Next on the list are Cyberabad and Hyderabad commissionerates.
In the past week, several cases of this nature were registered in police stations under the Rachakonda commissionerate. A 10-year-old girl living under the Kacheguda police station limits was gangraped by 10 persons under the Neredmet police station limits last week, leaving her four months pregnant. Another 10-year-old girl was raped under the Keesara police station limits a few days ago.
A three-year-old girl was raped by a man while she was having a bath under the LB Nagar police station limits.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, V. Sandhya Rani, national convener of the Progressive Organisation for Women, condemned the gruesome act. "The three-year-old is struggling for life in an ICU of a hospital in the city," she said.
Meanwhile, advocate V. Sudha got the pregnancy of the 10-year-old terminated after she moved the Telangana High Court, prompting authorities at the Gandhi Hospital to take up the abortion.
Three of the 10 cases reported involve the minor consenting to the sexual activity. When asked about the reason behind the occurrence of such incidents, a top cop from Rachakonda said, "In most cases, the victim is familiar with the accused. The accused is either a relative or a friend. Due to a lack of education among the masses in this area, victims get tricked and give into such arrangements. Also because most minors falling into this trap are school dropouts and don't have ways to spend an entire day, leading to them getting tricked. However, initially fewer cases were reported as compared to now due to the social stigma."
When asked about what has led to such a surge in minor rape cases in the commissionerate, Sandhya Rani said, "People residing there are mostly migrant workers living in a financially unstable environment. Most of the children there are school dropouts. This factor gives scope for children living in the area to get attracted to ganja or a form of sexual activity."
She went on to say, "Initially, there were bridge schools in most of the slum areas. These bridge schools basically admit children who are dropouts and teach them everything from scratch. However, now, there are very few bridge schools, and since the commissionerate consists of such slum areas, incidents like these occur very often. Nowadays, the use of ganja has also increased. Mostly, they give ganja to the minor and indulge her in such an activity. Since there is no one to monitor them at home, they're more prone to falling for such things."
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'Unsafe space for girls' "Many mothers have told me that as soon as their daughter matures, men in the neighbourhood and surrounding areas start roaming outside their houses.
It is very bothersome for a mother. Some women are single parents and have to go out for work, having that worry about their daughters deep down," said Sandhya Rani.
'Poverty the main issue'
Emphasising that poverty is where the exact problem lies, she said, "If they weren't poor, they would not have asked their children to drop out and if they hadn't dropped out, this wouldn't have been an issue. Governments come and go but there is no respite for the poverty-stricken in any case."
