Minor 'Porn Addict' Boys Kill Minor Girl: Why India Needs To Raise Better Sons

Assam Porn Addict Murder: How deep does depravity spurred on by toxic standards of masculine privilege breed? Very, it appears. A recent case from Assam is proof that our boys feel entitled to pick up on the most violent facets of patriarchy and India is doing little about it. Two minor boys, aged eight and 11, are accused in a case of the alleged murder of a six-year-old girl in Nagaon district of Assam. Reports show they committed the crime after the girl turned down one of their sexual advances.

That is all it takes in our society for little girls or older women to stand compromised in safety. Life or death hinges on a simple 'yes' or 'no' to a relationship offered by a suitor. Any kind of relationship: friendship, romantic relationship, marriage, sexual. And, as many would believe, these are evidently not crimes that pervade just the adult population. The Assam case has shown that the rot runs beyond our imagination.

The minor girl was reportedly being chased by one 11-year-old accused seeking a sexual relationship, which she turned down, threatening to complain to her parents. With the help of an eight-year-old and another 11-year-old cousin, he allegedly stoned her to death. The girl's body was found in a toilet at a local mill. More here.

Nagaon police probing the case described the accused as "porn addicts capable of conspiracy and gruesome execution of a dastardly crime."

One is stunned into shock and then wonders how it has come to this. A reality where young boys, alleged to be addicted to pornography, find it in themselves to murder young girls. But the answers are staring right at us: the lack of sex education, unrestrained access to the internet, and persistent exposure to the dominant culture of patriarchy.

Assam Porn Addict Murder Should Be A Loud Wake-Up Call For Us

Dr Sarika Boora, a clinical psychologist based in Delhi, in an interview with SheThePeople, said such sexually violent inclinations in juveniles are not biological. Children learn them from society. "The social learning theory states children learn by observing or imitating. So if that is what they are seeing around them, it’s what they are picking up on. If they’ve seen the father or other male figures around them getting hostile, violent, they may start believing man is dominant."

Our boys grow up learning that positions of male authority, which they will eventually assume in society, come with a boundless entitlement to dominate. And that domination can even be exercised through harassment or coercion. Why else do we hear of cases where grown men, unable to take 'no' for an answer from a woman they are pursuing, end up stalking or killing them?

In recent months, we have seen this happen in Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and more, where women were attacked for simply saying 'no.' Are we imparting values of equality and respect of choice to our boys? Are families teaching sons the accountability of their actions? Or are households providing cover for the condonation and encouragement of aggressive male egos?

Shockingly, in the Assam porn addicts case, it is reported that the parents of one of the accused were aware of his misconduct and even attempted to tamper with the evidence to shield him.

These men were once young boys who were coaxed and conditioned into believing the world belongs to them, as they like it. They are 'entitled.'  

"There is also no information about sexual gratification or self-pleasure, peer pressure, social media exposure. All of them are factors that possibly play roles," Dr Boora adds, on minor crimes of a sexual nature.

As a society aiming for better safety for all its citizens, especially women who are presently disadvantaged in that aspect, India must consider the urgent importance of making robust its ">sexual education outreach - in schools, in local communities, in villages and in urban centres. In the age of social media predominance, is it wise to let minors procure information as sensitive as sexuality and bodily agency? Who is taking responsibility for sieving data that is age-suited on our screens?

The latest numbers from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show 2,750 juveniles were arrested in 2019 on charges of rape and assault. One minor on average was detained every day. Before these numbers climb, India must move to action on curbing minor crimes with a sensitive but firm overhaul of our social structures. And move fast.

Views expressed are the author's own. 

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