Last week, the City police arrested a 27-year-old from Eloor on charges of sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl.
The accused, identified as Jaison, allegedly abused the victim, a school student, on several occasions after offering to marry her. The abuse came to light when the victim revealed the incident to her parents after quarrelling with the accused.
The episode, according to officers of the Kochi City police, is the latest in a string of sex crimes, which have been on a steady rise in the district over the past couple of years. The high-decibel campaigns at various levels and strict enforcement notwithstanding, there appears to be no major change in the way children are treated in the district, they say.
With 224 cases, Ernakulam tops the number of child sex abuse cases recorded in Kerala over the first four months of 2017. Among this, Ernakulam Rural district recorded 153 cases, while 138 persons were taken into custody in this connection.
Meanwhile, the City police arrested about 70 persons in connection with child sexual abuse cases during the same period. In terms of numbers, the district is closely followed by Malappuram with 214 cases while Thrissur stands third with 186 cases. A year-on-year comparison of official data suggests a sharp rise in child sexual abuse cases reported from Ernakulam and Kerala as a whole this year. In 2016, the total number of cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 in the district was 241.
The average age of victims involved in sexual abuse cases has come down to 10-11 years from 15-16 years reported a few years back.
The police attribute the spurt in crime cases being reported to proactive policing coupled with increased awareness in society about sex crimes. They, however, add that the actual number of offences could be a lot higher as several children do not come forward because they are either frightened or embarrassed, or fail to realise that they have been abused.