New Delhi: It is a myth that only girls are subjected to penetrative sexual assault, boys are equally susceptible to this heinous crime, a court recently observed while sentencing a man to rigorous imprisonment of 15 years for committing an unnatural offence on a 10-year-old boy in 2019. Though the boy had turned hostile during the trial and refused to identify the accused, additional sessions judge Anu Aggarwal underlined that even if the survivor changed his stand, turned hostile and didn’t support the case of the prosecution on certain aspects, his testimony couldn’t be considered wholly unreliable to discard the entire case of the prosecution.In an order dated July 31, the court said, “Boys are as vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation as girls, and they are equally susceptible to the heinous crime of penetrative sexual assault. It is generally presumed that only girls can be subjected to penetrative sexual assault. However, this is a myth.” It also awarded a compensation of Rs 10.5 lakh to the survivor.The man was convicted under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and under IPC Section 377 (unnatural offences). Additional public prosecutor Arun KV cited a report by the Union women and child development ministry, noting that approximately 54.7% of the child sexual assault survivors are boys. He also said male children were equally vulnerable to sexual abuse and endured severe psychological trauma.The court, noting that the Pocso Act covered all children irrespective of gender, said, “The mental trauma that the sexually abused boy experiences is the same as that of other sexually abused survivors. They experience fear, flashbacks and undergo post-traumatic stress disorder.” In the societal framework, masculinity is wrongly associated with emotional strength, the judge pointed out.
