The legal framework against child sexual abuse in India is gender-neutral, yet the sexual abuse of boys remains under-reported. Examine the social and institutional reasons.

The POCSO Act, 2012 defines a "child" as any person below 18 and frames offences against "whoever" commits them, so it protects boys and girls equally [1]. Official crime data, however, count only reported cases. Social stigma and weak institutions keep male survivors out of those numbers.

Social reasons

• Masculinity norms: People assume that boys "can fight back." A well-built 15-year-old in Hyderabad was threatened, locked in and kept from escaping by a dog let loose on him. Afterwards he could not even describe the assault to his father [2].
• Family honour and shame: Families stay silent to protect their standing, and the child goes without care [2].
• Familiar abusers: Offenders are often neighbours, as in the Hyderabad case [2]. That brings fear of retaliation and pressure from the community.
• No language to disclose: Boys rarely get body-safety education, so many cannot recognise or name abuse.

Institutional reasons

• Female-victim default: Police, hospitals and helplines tend to treat girls as the typical victim. Disbelieving a male survivor causes secondary victimisation.
• Fear of the process: Reporting is mandatory under the Act [1]. Fearing police involvement, some families settle the matter privately instead of complaining.
• Delayed justice: The Act requires the child's evidence to be recorded within 30 days and the trial completed, as far as possible, within one year [1]. Yet families say justice is often delayed [2], which puts off others from coming forward.
• Few psychosocial services: Families struggle to help boys recover [2]. Trauma-informed counselling designed for male survivors is scarce.
• Invisible data: Because records cover only reported cases, the true scale stays hidden. Policy attention then follows the cases that are visible.

The gap between a gender-neutral law and real access to it is mostly social and administrative. Several steps would help close it:

• Gender-inclusive body-safety curricula in schools
• Sensitisation training for police and Special Juvenile Police Units
• Dedicated counselling for male survivors under Mission Vatsalya
• Faster trials through Fast Track Special Courts
• Closer monitoring by NCPCR and SCPCRs [1]

Together these would give practical effect to Article 21 (dignity), Article 39(f), India's UNCRC commitments and SDG 16.2 (ending abuse of children).