Originally published at : The Global Journal - A magazine based in Geneva & New York
Today
more than half of Indian children face child abuse at least once in
their lifetime. The New Delhi rape of ‘Gudiya’ showed that child abuse
is rampant across the country. The use of cyberspace and
Internet-information systems has further aggravated the issue -
children are not just abused, but even subjected to child pornography.
In January 2013, a brutal child rape in
New Delhi reignited the critical issue of child abuse that we as Indians
have conspicuously shied away from for several years. Five years-old,
Gudiya was raped and brutalized by two men, Manoj (19) and Pradeep (21)
living in the same building. They not only abused her, but even slashed
her throat and left her unconscious in a pool of blood. Recently, an
incident in Gurgaon was reported where a 45 year-old father raped his
daughter for three years. In a privately run shelter home in Haryana,
children and young women were beaten, sent out for sex work, trafficked
and abused in horrible ways. Three years ago, we had the Nithari case,
where an influential businessman and his servant were involved in child
abuse and murdered 11 children, burying them in their courtyard.
Where our society is heading is hard to
say and even fathom. I am deeply disturbed and shocked to read countless
stories of young girls subjected to abuse by their nearest ones.
Despite ubiquitous protests following these incidents, every day we
discover even stranger cases of child abuse. We are also yet to discuss
the root of this issue. Instead, we discuss violence against women in
terms of rape as a property dispute. Even on news channels I hear
patriarchal views during debates, where many blame the dressing style of
women for ‘encouraging’ rapists to rape them. The Gudiya incident was a
straight slap in the face to this chauvinist mindset and made us
swallow harsh realities that we have until now knowingly evaded.
Today 53.4 percent of our children face
child abuse at least once in their lifetime. These incidents have gone
unnoticed for too long due to our negligence. More often than not, these
abuses are perpetrated by a family member, a family friend or an uncle.
They are kept private and not revealed as it becomes a ‘prestige’ issue
for the family of the victim. I am sometimes appalled and ashamed by
such hypocrisy. What about punishing the culprit? Why aren’t we bringing
them to justice? According to the National Crime Records Bureau,
between 2001 and 2011 there was a three-fold jump in registered child
rape cases - from 2,113 in 2001 to 7,112 instances 10 years later. The
majority of these incidents are not even recorded in police files.
Child rape incidents have increased by
336 percent since 2001 in India according to a study conducted by the
Asian Centre for Human Rights. Our country finds it difficult to talk
about sex, let alone sexual abuse. While our movies are full of
thigh-slapping oafs dishing out double-entendres, our society’s redress
of abuse victims, not to mention police insensitivity, is a travesty.
Child sex abuse is a particularly taboo topic - it is not just brushed
under the carpet, it is locked away in teak closets and swept under
expensive sheets of more homes that you can even imagine. It is this
silence that is frighteningly empowering to the culprits.
Recovering and Healing from Incest (RAHI),
an NGO that was started by Anuja Gupta - herself a victim of child
abuse - carries out extensive research in this field. The following are
just a few startling observations:
- 64 percent of victims are abused between the age of 10-18 years
- 32 percent of victims are abused between the age of 2-10 years
- 87 percent of victims are repeatedly abused
- 19 percent of the abused are currently living with at least one of their abusers
Most of these abused children have their mothers at home. The study
was even more shocking, as it showed that this rate does not depreciate
according to the strata of the society - in fact, it even appreciates.
More than 70 percent of the children from upper class families suffer
abuse from family members and people whom they trusted.
The
solution in my view lies in the fact that we need to advise and educate
our children about their sexuality and about how someone can exploit
them. Whether it is the dogmatic society structure or the
conservative mindset here in India, we generally do not even talk about
the necessary details of what type of touching is wrong and where it
crosses line with our children. This makes them even more vulnerable as
they do not realize when they are being subjected to abuse. Most are so
scared they do not even report these incidents to their parents - many
out of fear of being outcast for reporting incidents against influential
members of their family. On one hand, they are pressured by the abuser
and on the other hand, we disbelieve them so much that they plunge into
the darkness of depression.
We should not be paranoid and deprive
children of the joy of childhood, but we need to make sure we give them
the confidence that they have our full faith when they report such
incidents. We need to trust them and instill faith and confidence. These
are incidents that haunt the victim for a very long time and can
shatter their self-confidence. Let us hope that with time , the society
changes and we can stand by our children both compassionately and
vigilantly in this hour of crisis.
Written by :
Shashank Saurav
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