Minister Dingo calls for collective effort to stop child sex abuse

Imphal: Manipur social welfare minister Heikham Dingo Singh has stressed the need to cooperate amongst the stakeholders to stop sexual abuses against children in the state.

The minister was speaking at the closing function of Mass Awareness Rally Against Child Sexual Abuse held at Ima Khunthokhanbi Sanglen, Thangmeiband in Imphal on Tuesday, organised by department of social welfare.

A mass rally against Child Sexual Abuse was flagged off by P. Vaiphei, additional chief secretary, social welfare, covering Imphal areas. More than 2,000 children from various districts of the state took part in the rally.

“For the last one year the number of cases relating to the sexual abuses amongst the children in the state has been increasing in an alarming rate. More than 150 cases have been registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, till date,” Dingo said.

Manipur tops the list in reported cases of sexual abuses against children in the country which is quite unfortunate and therefore all stakeholders including CSOs, Meira Paibis, local clubs and student organizations should cooperate to stop such crimes in the state, he added.

Mass awareness programme regarding POCSO Act will be organised in all the districts. This will help in creating awareness among the people and also in stopping crimes especially sexual abuses against the children. Organising such rallies will definitely help in spreading messages to the masses, he said.

Any inhuman act like sexual abuses should be immediately reported to the concerned so that follow up actions can be initiated against the culprits. If proper action has not been taken up in time, it will help in recurrence of the crime and will also give huge impact to the society, the minister said.

MLA Dr Usham Deben Singh, director Uttam Singh, deputy director K. Saroja Devi, Child Welfare Committee and Juvenile Justice Board members of all the 16 districts, Children Homes from 5 districts, students, officials and staffs of the department attended the function.