Spike In Child Sex Abuse By Teachers Raises Alarm: Why Strict Laws Aren't A Deterrent

In a worrying trend, the city is seeing a rise in the cases of sexual assault on minors or students by teachers, which portend a serious social ill.

The details of the offences filed recently are horrifying: A private tutor, 44, from Malad allegedly repeatedly sexually abused a seven-year-old girl, who was his student, since August 2024. He apparently lured her into his bedroom under the pretext of showing games on his phone. The abhorrent crime came to fore after the parents noticed behavioural changes in their daughter.

On June 25, a 50-year-old teacher from a reputed coaching class in Bhayandar was nabbed for allegedly repeatedly exploiting a 17-year-old FY BA student. On July 3, a 40-year-old female teacher from a prestigious Mahim school was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing her 16-year-old student for several months at various places, including luxury hotels.

On July 9, a karate instructor, 22, was arrested for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl. In November 2024, Amit Dubey, 50, a school teacher from Nalasopara was accused of raping a 14-year-old student.

Uma Subramanian, co-founder and director RATI Foundation and child’s rights activist, said that the cases are not increasing, instead they are now coming to light more frequently. “Schools often scrutinise peons, drivers and caretakers for character verification, but fail to check the backgrounds of teachers. This reflects a class and caste bias,” she underlined.

Highlighting the usual practice of institutes trying to suppress such matters, which bring infamy, Subramanian said, “While every school has a child protection policy, most children and parents remain unaware of it.”

Pointing to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which is meant for the protection of kids, she added, “Many cases go unreported because the legal process is traumatic. Filing an FIR takes up to 10 hours, medical examinations could span over days and frequent police station visits are required. Not to mention, the tiring judicial process.”

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Delving deeper into the mindset of pedophiles, psychologist Lisha Chedda explained the concept of grooming. “What happens is that they (abusers) spend time with the child, gain trust, build rapport and then abuse them. Two things severely impact the child mentally – their trust is broken and they are left terrified.”

Chedda also spoke of gender bias, saying it's harder for a victim boy to get empathy. “First of all, no one immediately believes the child. People keep questioning why the child didn’t scream or run away. However, studies show that most child victims freeze as they are extremely scared,” said Chedda. With adequate parental and school support, the impact on kids can be much less, the psychologist added.

In a similar vein, Advocate Persis Sidhva argued that parents need to be aware of the POCSO Act. “The courts generally take these cases seriously. The Act mandates strict punishments, especially when teachers are the accused.” In most cases, schools either lack commitment or frequently side with the accused to protect the institution's reputation, leaving children and their families without proper support, Sidhva added.