By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Nov. 22: In Nepal, around four girls aged below 18 years are sexually offended every day, according to the latest government figures.
The National Child Rights Council (NCRC) report, released on the day of International Child Rights Day, showed that the incidents of sexual offences against girls under 18 have, of late, gone up alarmingly.
The report showed the rise in the incidents of sexual offence against children, which has become a huge cause for concern for the state to take an effective move to control such a heinous crime.
According to the report Status of Children in Nepal 2018/19, altogether 1,420 girls (under 18) were raped in the fiscal year 2078/19 B.S. This means, four girls are sexually abused every day and 116 in a month.
The number is higher by 429 incidents than the number of the fiscal year, 2017/18 when only 995 cases of sexual offences were registered.
This report also proved that the cases of sexual offence against girl children have increased in the recent years, said Dipendra Kafle of NCRC.
Child sexual abuse has been in focus in recent weeks after the case of a 12-year-old rape victim who went through the labour induced abortions of her 20-weeks pregnancy in Paroprakar Maternity Hospital.
Two of the minor boys of her village were now under the police custody for raping her and making her pregnant.
The rights activists believed that the number of such cases might be more than those which were registered because people hesitate to talk about the topic.
This figure reflects the abominable condition of our society, where even the children are not spared, said Meera Dhungana, advocate and woman rights activists.
Lately, corrupt mentality has developed among the people, due to which even a six-month-old girl and a septuagenarian get raped, she added.
“Statistics tell us how well we are doing as a society. If we look closely, the figures will show us the dark side of our society.”
The perception of our state and society towards female is very biased. The patriarchic mindset has crippled our society, where male feels always powerful than a female. This had also given rise to the rape cases against girls and women,” she added.
Dhungana said impunity was another factor that had encouraged sexual predators to commit more crimes.
Only a few rapists were brought to book and majority of such offenders are moving freely without fear. This erodes the faith of survivors on the justice and sends the message to men that they can easily escape the law, said Dhungana.