Men too can be victims of sexual assault; many POCSO case victims are boys: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday observed that sexual assault happens not just to women but to men as well..Justice Devan Ramachandran orally observed that even though a significant majority of sexual assault victims are women, the possibility of men being assaulted cannot be ignored. "Sexual assault is not confined to girls, it happens to boys also. It is rare but it is possible. I know that it is happening. But generally we take care of women. Generally, ninety-nine per cent of sexual assault victims for some reason are women," the judge remarked .The judge made the observation while considering a petition moved by a doctor challenging a protocol followed in Kerala by which only gynaecologists, preferably women gynaecologists, are called to examine victims of sexual assault.The judge remarked that the protocol is meant to support victims, which in most cases happen to be women or girls."I don't know why you should be concerned. We are trying to give maximum support to the victim. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the victim," Justice Ramachandran added while addressing the petitioner..However, the Court said that victims of sexual assault could be men as well and further observed that there has been an increase in boys being victims in cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act)."Here, you have assumed that the victims are women. You should have qualified that the victims you refer to are women victims alone. There are men, young boys being abused. I have seen a couple of cases recently. There are more boys in POCSO matters these days," Justice Ramachandran said. .The Court ultimately agreed to hear the matter again on March 5 saying,"You (petitioner-doctor) should take it as a social commitment. You should go even if you are called at night... I don't find this protocol to be wrong but if there are any problems in the working of it, we can certainly iron it out," the judge said. .The petitioner was represented by advocates Shyam Padman, CM Andrews, Boby M Sekhar, Laya Mary Joseph, Harish Abraham, Nichu Willington, Ashwathi Shyam, Swathy Sudhir, and Ram Mohan.