Chennai: In the assembly session on Monday, Tamil Nadu PWD Minister Aadhav Arjuna attributed a “40% rise in Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) cases between 2023 and 2026” to the state’s inability to crack down on drug culture (which he claimed ‘arrived’ in 2020). As per the National Crime Records Bureau data released in 2024, Tamil Nadu topped the list of drug overdose deaths with 313 reported. More than 18,000 POCSO cases are pending in Tamil Nadu courts.Psychologists and experts working in the area of child sexual abuse say the minister’s correlation is more politically expedient than factually correct. “In 95% of child sexual abuse cases, the perpetrator is known to the child, and the crime occurs within the home,” says Vidya Reddy, co-founder of Tulir – Centre for prevention and healing of child sexual abuse. “Where, then, is the evidence linking it to drugs?” Reddy referred to the remark as “ignorant myopia, that prompts one to comprehend such abuse by conflating drug use with sexual violence”.“It’s a pity that people who are supposed to be responsible persons in authority will twist anything to suit their own ends. There are so many sporting associations in Tamil Nadu. Do they have any child protection policies, considering how many cases are reported from there?”Research too does not establish drug use as a direct cause of child sexual abuse. “Drugs and alcohol may impair judgement, lower inhibitions and reduce self-control, making a person with pre-existing abusive impulses more likely to act on them. But they do not create a sexual interest in children or cause paedophilia,” says psychologist S Usharani. During her research in 1987 on the psychological aftermath of rape, she says she managed to get the addresses of 400 survivors but could interview only 95. “Many families had moved or did not want to speak. In some cases, the sexual offence was against a minor, but in those days it was recorded under broader rape laws, as the Pocso Act came into existence only in 2012. So there was hardly any reporting of child sexual abuse.”Reporting has since improved, she says, as children are better able to speak to their families and schools teach them about inappropriate touch and how to seek help.“In-camera proceedings, restrictions on revealing a child’s identity and greater awareness of the law have given families more confidence to approach police. So, more cases are being registered,” says K Jaishankar, professor of criminology and justice sciences at the Bengaluru-based International Institute of Justice & Police Sciences. He calls the correlation between drug use and Pocso cases “faint”. “Proliferation of online pornography and child sexual abuse material has a stronger connection than drug abuse.”Soumya Shankar Raman, COO at Chennai-based TT Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation (TTK Hospital), which runs an addiction rehabilitation programme, says drugs are sometimes used to groom and exploit minors. “We have seen adults lure teens with drugs, first using them for petty offences such as mobile and chain-snatching and gradually grooming them for more serious crimes,” she says. “Girls from vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds are sometimes introduced to alcohol, cigarettes or drugs before being sexually exploited. Many who come to us with substance-use problems have also experienced sexual abuse. Substance abuse can increase vulnerability and create opportunities for exploitation. Still, it would be incorrect to say that the rise in drug use has directly caused the increase in Pocso cases,” adds Soumya.
