Sex prowlers in Mumbai target 85 kids in three months

As many as 85 girls in the 13-15 age group were sexually abused by people known to them in the past three months. They were brought to the children’s remand home in Dongri by NGOs. Authorities said 85 was an unusually high number.

“We have around 110 girls in the remand home of which 85 are victims of sexual harassment. In my five-year tenure, I have never seen such a huge figure. What’s worse, all the girls were abused by their friends or relatives,” said Dr Shaila Mhatre, chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee, Mumbai.   

“Once they are brought under our care, we file a police complaint and track their parents or relatives so that they can be handed over to them after counselling. While handing them over, we ask the parents to sign a bond and get an NGO involved to review the case every six months for five years,” Mhatre told DNA.

Women and child welfare department minister Varsha Gaikwad said it is important that children are taught the basics of sex. “It can be done in an informal way by holding a discussion on the subject,” she said. Gaikwad said given the increasing number of abuse cases against children, they are in the process of increasing child care centres across the state.

Sandip Shinde, senior programme coordinator, Childline, a 24x7 helpline for children, said: “It’s a fact that cases of child sex abuse have increased in the past few months. Our helpline alone referred two-three cases of girls being molested by known people.”