‘Police not equipped to handle child sexual abuse cases’

New Delhi, January 3

With more and more skeletons of children being unearthed from the D5 house in Noida’s sector 31, the “lapse in law and order situation” in the area has become the focus of all attention. “What is getting completely overlooked is that, this is a case of child sexual abuse (CSA) of the most macabre kind, and needs professional handling. The police are ill-equipped to handle such complex cases,” says Rajat Mitra, a clinical psychologist researching violent offenders and sex offenders. "The whole extent of the crime," says Mitra, "has yet not been unearthed."

"The police have been handling this case as one of serial killing and homicide. But the primary issue here is of CSA, especially because such a large number of children were involved. There is a high possibility of more involvements. The owner-servant duo might be sharing their interest with others and there can be other accused also," says Mitra.
"Most importantly, missing children are immediately associated with having run away from home," says Mitra. "Knowledge about CSA is so limited even among the police that they seldom connect a case with CSA," laments Mitra.
CSA offenders often collect trophies or souvenirs from victims -- such as a precious object or possession of the child.
If the police were well-informed or trained about such crimes they would be looking out for evidence of this nature, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to recognise such evidence, he feels.
According to Mitra, this is primarily a crime committed out of lust. The accused are very organised and plan their acts very professionally. The suspects in these cases need to be professionally interviewed so that they reveal the diabolical planning and their organised network.
He says, as the duo readily confessed to their crimes, it could be possible that they are masking other crimes. It could probably be an 'escape route'. “The accused should be probed professionally for the full dimension of the case to be unearthed,” demands Mitra.
The extent of tortures that the duo inflicted on the children can be known only through a proper interview.
On most occasions, CSA offenders enjoy sharing their experiences with others and at times, are known to film their acts and watch them with other pedophiles. Even a web camera can be used for this purpose, says the researcher.
“CSA offenders are habitual offenders. This would in all probability not be the only place where they have committed the crime. Moninder Singh is known to have houses in other cities as well,” says Mitra.
He laments, CSA is not recognised in India. There is no documentation and very little reports to go by.

He cites the example of a CSA offender that he interviewed recently, when it gradually came to light that he had abused several other children in other cities. More probing revealed that even missing persons reports had not been lodged for these children.