With the growing influence of the porn industry with inadequate sex education and strict guidelines, there’s an increase in the number of cases where young boys sexually harass, rape, and abuse their minor sister leading to pregnancy in India. Here are some cases and examples of minor sibling incest below.
A 21-year-old elder brother impregnates his minor sister in Pune two months ago. He was booked under custody in the last week of Wednesday for allegedly sexually assaulting and subsequently impregnating her. He is a third-year engineering student, and her sister is a 12th class student. He stayed at home instead of the Mumbai hostel due to lockdown, and the incident took place on the night of 15-04- according to the girl's files complaint.
Doctors found about her pregnancy when she complained about her stomach aches, and later, they informed her parents, along with a medico-legal case. Later, that girl addressed this issue to her parents, and a complaint was registered, against his eldest brother. He is booked under Sections 376, 506 of Indian Penal Code (1860) along with Section 4, 5(j)(2), 5(l), 8, and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
In March, A minor 16-year-old boy from Haryana sexually assaulted his mentally challenged 18-year-old sister and impregnated her. This shocking incident was revealed when Child Helpline NGO authorities were alerted by someone. She was recused after receiving the information. She was six months pregnant, according to her medical examination reports. She turned 18 last year, and during counselling, she said that she was sexually abused and impregnated by his brother. The boy was later sent to the observation centre in Karnal by Police.
In February 2019, a man was arrested for allegedly raping his minor sister for three years in Delhi. The girl is now 17-years-old, and it was discovered that his 24-year-old brother made her pregnant. After realizing her pregnancy, this man gave her abortion pills. House residents of this girl, where she used to work in place of her mother as domestic help, noticed her injuries, and after some inquiry and knowledge on this incident, they filed a report against him. He is believed to be a sweeper working in a private bank in Dwarka, Delhi.
“Three years ago, he brought his 14-year-old sister to Delhi on the pretext of getting her admitted to a school. He did get her enrolled but had been raping her all these years. Last, in September, the girl became pregnant. When she told her mother about a change in her biological behaviour, the woman asked her to approach her brother for medicines. The accused man gave her abortion pills”, said a senior police officer. The police are still unsure of her mother’s awareness of this issue.
In 2018 at Coimbatore, A youth in his 20s allegedly his younger teen sister studying in the ninth standard while pursuing his diploma over a year, resulting in her pregnancy. This boy assaulted the girl when their parents were away, and the incident was revealed by the girl's school teacher, who suspected her pregnant and later admitted her to the hospital when confirmed. After that, the girl narrated the incident, and the boy was booked, under POCSO Act.
In May 2016, a similar case happened where a minor victim was raped multiple times by her then 17-year-old brother, who recently got out of the juvenile home. He was earlier booked, for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy before. During her counselling session, she admitted to being raped by his brother for the first time during April (1 month ago) but didn't inform anyone in fear of his brother's threat. He threatened her saying that he would tell the parents that she had been meeting boys secretly.
She realized her pregnancy later when she missed her monthly cycle and told her rape issue to her elder sister, who informs their parents. The father took his girl to Bhondsi police station and filed his son under Section 6 of the POCSO Act.
One of the victim’s relatives said, “The girl was raped in the night while the rest of the family was sleeping in the other room. She is too young to understand what has happened to her and to speak against her brother." The victim's medical test confirmed her pregnancy, and she was referred to the civil hospital in Gurgaon after that. In February the same year, another case was witnessed where a 22-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly raping and impregnating his younger sister in Udupi.
The incident came to light in September 2015 then the girl was rushed to a local hospital with a stomach ache complaint. Later, doctors informed her parents about her pregnancy. Shortly, the victim went for an abortion. The accused's name was not revealed by the victim, which increased police's suspicion, leading to the testing of her brother and four suspect's DNA. He was picked up by the Malpe police after a DNA test confirmed that the boy committed incest, on a minor girl. He got booked under POCSO Act after he confessed to sexually assaulting her many times, between June to August 2015.
Young children are incapable of doing such horrible acts unless and until there's an external source to it. Youths who initiate or solicit overtly on sexual acts and assaults with other minors are often the ones who are sexually victimized before, or exposed to pornography or witnessed the sexual activity of adults frequently at a young age before. In many cases, these minor assaulters and sexual abusers have no intent to harm anyone, and their act is merely a reaction or impulse. However, these acts are still a crime and cause harm to other minor victims even though they may not understand that it’s a crime against themselves.
Family environment and proper parenthood play a very important role in controlling and preventing any incest cases from occurring. In India, sex is a taboo topic, hence most parents refrain from teaching their kids topics like good or bad touch, intimacy, puberty, sexual desire, temptations, hormonal changes, and many things related to sex and the intimacy which is necessary for today's kids to know especially during their teenage and puberty periods. Minor age daughters and very young kids are prone to paedophiles and sexual predators, therefore making your child aware of it is a must so that they can protect themselves first before it gets too late for parents.
There lie many uncovered cases where parents are aware of this, and they downplay it by keeping the victim silent and give the assaulter chance to slip away. The passive rape culture and patriarchy slam the doors of hopes for victims encouraging the evil powers of society on a hike. Many families cope with such issues by pressing them down leading, to generational trauma and many mental health issues to themselves and the victim.
Minors who were sexually victimized by their sibling or other minors go through various mental illnesses or disorders like anxiety, depression, substance abuse, suicide, eating disorders, PTSD, sleep disorder, trust issues, guilt, self-loathing, humiliation, and fear even with or without mental therapy and counselling.
Juvenile sexual abuse goes unreported not because it is solely a taboo topic to discuss or society doesn’t know about it. It often occurs when there is no supervision of minor systems by adults. Most of the above cases happened in the absence of parents, or elder in the family. And it was out of adult supervision. Inter-sibling sexual abuse is underreported, as compared to parent-child sexual abuse, and among that incest disclosure by the victim is very rare.
Those under-reported cases in which victims and survivors need justice also get to reach the end. Because in India, there is no specific rule of inter-sibling sexual crime punishment of minors specifically. Most of the minor assaulters and rapists get booked under relevant sections of POCSO and IPC, but no specific law is present to file them under with proper punishment. Neither is there such a law with penalizing nor is the media covering it properly.
The media fails to take follow-up stories on such articles. They fail to cover the future of the victim's child. Will that child get aborted or be born? How will the family deal with it, if those minor pregnant victims are taken care of in hospitals? How is society looking on this matter? What are government officials doing in these cases? What are parents doing, or how are they treating the victim after the case? And many more.
We need the judiciary and media to work together on this issue as the pornography industry is blowing up uncontrollably and spreading among minors quickly, leading to a rise in such cases. We need specific laws in detail, along with strict punishments and guidelines.
Share This Post On
0 comments
Leave a comment
You need to login to leave a comment. Log-in
