Essay- Child Abuse-A Horrible Reality (By Arun Joshi)

HERE is something that threatens to shatter the picture of the big, happy Indian family. Children are safer at school than at home, says a study on child abuse conducted by the Central government's Ministry of Women and Child Welfare. Every second child in India has faced sexual abuse, and two-thirds of children have been physically abused, the survey estimates. The study was conducted in 13 States and based on interviews with 12,447 children. It is a damning indictment of Indian society's cruelty to its young and most vulnerable. One-fifth of the world's children live in India. Forty-two per cent of India's population is under 18 - that is 440 million people, a number greater than the population of the United States. Despite the fact that India has signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the country has dozens of child welfare schemes, a large portion of the child population remains neglected and exploited. Over half of the children interviewed (53 per cent) had been sexually abused. More boys than girls were harmed. And, 21 per cent of the children reported severe abuse. Children at home and not going to school were more at risk than those attending school. The most affected were children at work (61 per cent reported sexual abuse). Street children (54 per cent) were only slightly more vulnerable than children at home not attending school (53 per cent). More than 70 per cent of children had not told anyone else about their abuse. Of the young adults (aged 18 to 24) who were interviewed, 46 per cent reported that they were sexually abused as children.
Parents and family members were the people most likely to abuse children physically. Around 48 per cent of children said they were physically abused by family members, while 34 per cent were beaten by others. "Considering that the family is supposed to provide a protective atmosphere for the child, especially during the formative years, the high percentage is both surprising and alarming," the study says. But severe abuse was committed mostly by outsiders. Every sixth child faced severe thrashing by people outside the family. Child workers formed one-fifth of the children interviewed and are among the most exploited. Of all child labourers, 56 per cent were employed illegally or in hazardous industries - domestic work; roadside restaurants, or dhabas; construction work, beedi-rolling; lock-making; embroidery; and zari weaving. More than half of child workers laboured seven days a week, without holidays. Of all working children, 23 per cent were domestic workers, of whom 81 per cent were girls. Fourteen per cent of the domestic child workers said they were abused by their employers.
Street children survive in the most inhuman living conditions. The survey found that two of three street children lived with their parents. Only 17 per cent slept in a night shelter. Hygiene conditions were miserable. More than 70 per cent defecated in the open, and 50 per cent did not have access to a municipal tap to bathe. The survey found that they were often not able to meet their basic needs for food. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one in every four girls and one in every seven boys in the world are sexually abused.THE first survey of its kind — the National Survey on Child Abuse — virtually across the length and breadth of the country has come up with a startling revelation: a majority of children have experienced various forms of violation, physical excesses and sexual abuse. Over 50 per cent had experienced physical abuse such as slapping and corporal punishment from parents and teachers alike; more specifically nearly 65 per cent of schoolchildren, particularly from government schools, reported that they had been beaten by their teachers. Of the many children that were sexually abused, almost 70 per cent stated that they had never reported the matter to anyone. Last but not the least, with every second child admitting to being emotionally abused; it is no exaggeration to say that the survey is possibly the single largest vote of no-confidence against the natural and trusted guardians of the young.
So much so that the much-revered and much-lauded Indian family is under a cloud for not only being one of the main perpetrators of the crime but also for using the smokescreen of the sanctity of the family to hide many ugly realities. More worrisome is the finding that the teacher, often associated with a noble profession, not only proves to be ignoble but also a child-baiter, resembling the infamous Fagin abusing Oliver Twist. Child abuse has become a major public health problem, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A recent study in India revealed that 50 per cent children suffer from one or another kind of child abuse. Seeing that 40 per cent of our population comprises children/ adolescents, the number of victims can be over 200 millions. The findings are so scary that each home appears unsafe for our young ones. Children who form 42% of the India?s population are at risk on the streets, at their workplace and even inside their own homes. The recent Nithari case has highlighted the plight of children of migrant workers. There has been a 40% increase in intra-state migration in the last 10 years. While migrant do get employment there is no safety net for their children; they get neither education nor healthcare. Single migrant children or children of migrant workers are often not counted anywhere- census or any government scheme. According to the study conducted by NGO Shakti Vahini in 2006, 378 of the 593 districts in India are affected by human trafficking the children being the most affected. They are easy prey for traffickers who lure them from villages with the promise of employment. The street children are perceived as vagrants by the police and with no legal safeguards to protect them violence and exploitation are daily routine for them. India has the largest number of street children in the world. In 2001 it was estimated that there are 100,000 to 125,000 street children each in Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi with 45,000 in Bangalore.
The term child abuse covers a wide range of behavior, from actual physical assault to simple neglect of a child's basic needs. Child abuse is also sometimes called child maltreatment. Infants and preschool children are most likely to suffer deliberately inflicted fractures, burns, and bruises. This is known as the battered-child syndrome. Although the extent of child abuse is difficult to measure, it is recognized a s a major social problem, especially in industrialized nations. It occurs in all income, racial, religious, and ethnic groups and in urban and rural communities. “Child abuse" can be defined as causing or permitting any harmful or offensive contact on a child's body; and, any communication or transaction of any kind which humiliates, shames, or frightens the child. Some child development experts go a bit further, and define child abuse as any act or omission, which fails to nurture or in the upbringing of the children. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act defines child abuse and neglect as: “at a minimum, any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse. A child of any age, sex, race, religion, and socioeconomic background can fall victim to child abuse and neglect.
Major types of child abuse are: Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, & child sexual abuse, Neglect.( Physical neglect, educational neglect, emotional neglect)Emotional Abuse: (also known as: verbal abuse, mental abuse, and psychological maltreatment) Includes acts or the failures to act by parents or caretakers that have caused or could cause, serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders. This can include parents/caretakers using extreme and/or bizarre forms of punishment, such as confinement in a closet or dark room or being tied to a chair for long periods of time or threatening or terrorizing a child. Less severe acts, but no less damaging are belittling or rejecting treatment, using derogatory terms to describe the child, habitual scapegoating or blaming. Neglect: The failure to provide for the child’s basic needs. Neglect can be physical, educational, or emotional. Physical neglect can include not providing adequate food or clothing, appropriate medical care, supervision, or proper weather protection (heat or coats). It may include abandonment. Educational neglect includes failure to provide appropriate schooling or special educational needs, allowing excessive truancies. Psychological neglect includes the lack of any emotional support and love, never attending to the child, spousal abuse, drug and alcohol abuse including allowing the child to participate in drug and alcohol use. Physical Abuse: The inflicting of physical injury upon a child. This may include, burning, hitting, punching, shaking, kicking, beating, or otherwise harming a child. The parent or caretaker may not have intended to hurt the child, the injury is not an accident. It may, however, been the result of over-discipline or physical punishment that is inappropriate to the child’s age. Sexual Abuse: The inappropriate sexual behavior with a child. It includes fondling a child’s genitals, making the child fondle the adult’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism and sexual exploitation. To be considered child abuse these acts have to be committed by a person responsible for the care of a child (for example a baby-sitter, a parent, or a daycare provider) or related to the child. If a stranger commits these acts, it would be considered sexual assault and handled solely be the police and criminal courts. Commercial or other exploitation of a child refers to use of the child in work or other activities for the benefit of others. This includes, but is not limited to, child labour and child prostitution. These activities are to the detriment of the child’s physical or mental health, education, or spiritual, moral or social-emotional development.
Who are the major culprits? Who are the perverts who indulge in such abusive form of pleasure? The answer is chilling. It has been established by several national and international studies that in a majority of the cases, the abuser is a person whom the child knows and mostly trusts, like a family friend or acquaintance, a domestic help, a relative or in the most tragic and traumatic of the cases a member of the immediate family like the mother, father, brother or grandfather. That is the primary reason why the perpetrators are able to carry on with the abuse for a reasonably long time. Ironically this is also the reason why child abuse is many a time allowed to continue despite getting detected. A study based on interview of 350 Delhi schoolgirls, for instance, found that nearly 63 per cent of them had been abused by a family member. Another study on 1,000 middle and upper class women, revealed that 71 per cent had been abused by people they knew. Studies also disclose that the abuser can belong to either sex, though often men are the offenders. The victim too can be of either sex, though a girl child is more likely to be abused. Most adults who tend to indulge in CSA are often ‘normal’ individuals. Though many offenders might be those who have themselves been victims, but in most cases CSA is simply a result of unbridled lust and easy opportunity. Children are basically trusting, dependent and often taught unquestioned obedience to adult authority. They are also, as studied in most cases, ignorant. Most parent refrain from imparting any kind of sex education to their children. Therefore, the younger victims of CSA might actually not be aware of what the abuser is doing with them. Pain, discomfort, revulsion might be the associations that a child may form in relation to sexual abuse but knowledge of the actual harm or depravity of the act is absent.
In case of older children, the scars that an abuser leaves behind may be more traumatic as they might be aware of the depravity of the act that they are being forced to perform. However they might be helpless to prevent the abuse, as the protective forces might themselves be the exploitative ones.In cases of involvement of close family members, the child’s allegations of misconduct against the same might not be believed because any acknowledgement of such a behavior is likely to lead not only to a familial rift but also to a social scandal. So a child in such circumstances is sacrificed at the altar of family unity and prestige. All allegations of abuse are denied, leaving the child to grapple with the abuser and the related guilt alone.
Child abuse often proves to be a traumatic experience for the victim. To begin with in a society like ours, the victim is often the one who carries the cross of shame. It is the victim who becomes the target of mocking eyes, slandering tongues and a butt of lewd jokes. The stigma of sexual assault and victimisation continues long enough to even hamper the marital prospects of the girl child in question. Thus silence regarding the crime is often the most advised and frequently followed recourse to the problem of CSA. But for the parents of the victims who decide to break the silence and seek punishment for the guilty, the path to legal justice is often long and arduous. For starters, there is callousness and insensitivity of the law enforcement agencies to deal with. Then there are the regular judicial delays. The fact that our legal system is hardly equipped with mechanisms to deal with CSA further complicates the problem. Child abuse can have very serious consequences. The immediate physical effects of abuse or neglect can be relatively minor (bruises or cuts) or severe (broken bones, haemorrhage, or even death). In some cases, the physical effects are temporary; however, the pain and suffering they cause should not be discounted. Abuse and neglect have been shown, in some cases, to cause important regions of the brain to fail to form properly, resulting in impaired physical, mental, and emotional development. In other cases, the stress of chronic abuse causes a “hyper arousal” response by certain areas of the brain, which may result in hyperactivity, sleep disturbances and anxiety as well as increased vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, and learning and memory difficulties. More than one quarter of the children have some kind of recurring physical or mental health problem e.g. sexually transmitted diseases, heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, skeletal fractures and liver disorder.
The immediate emotional effects of abuse and neglect—isolation, fear and inability to trust—can translate into lifelong consequences, including low self-esteem, depression, and relationship difficulties. 80 per cent of young adults who had been abused exhibit many problems, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies. Other psychological and emotional conditions associated with abuse and neglect include panic disorder, dissociative disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and reactive attachment disorder. Children placed out-of-home care due to abuse or neglect tends to score lower than the general population on measures of cognitive capacity, language development and academic achievement. Children who are abused and neglected by caretakers often do not form secure attachments to them. These early attachment difficulties can lead to later difficulties in relationships with other adults as well as with peers.
The solution to this problem should start from the base i.e. form the home. There are several very basic rules that the parents can follow to protect their children from CSA. First of all, children must be given basic sexual education. They should be taught that any form of sexual advances from adults is wrong. The children should have the confidence that their parents are there with them to protect them. Parents should develop strong communicative relationship with their children. Children should be encouraged to question and discuss their experiences. The parents must make an effort to know their children’s friends and their families. In case the child talks of an experience that sounds anywhere like an abuse, the child should be believed and precautionary or preventive steps must be taken. The parents must let the children express affection in their own terms and not insist upon the child to give hugs and kisses to relatives. The parents must acknowledge that CSA is a problem and remember the old adage ‘forewarned is forearmed.’ This will help reduce the chances of child abuse.
Government must take stringent steps to tackle this problem. India ratified the Child Rights Convention in 1992. However, much more needs to be done by way of embracing its spirit and ensuring that it trickles down into the existing legal framework and government schemes and policies. Further, such a child-centered legal framework needs to ensure a policy of zero tolerance for acts of violation against children while also providing for the effective protection and promotion of the rights of the child. For instance, even while addressing issues of child delinquency under the Juvenile Justice Act, most legal experts recognize the fact, that the Act has never considered the child as a legal entity with a right to self-expression and this has posed a major challenge for child-rights groups.
Our legislators must wake up and put in a serious effort to curb this social evil. There are several laws but the problem is with the implementation. The Central Monitoring Commission which is supposed to monitor crime against children under the Juvenile Justice Act was amended in 2000.This committee has not met even once since the amendment. The Act stated that every police station should have a juvenile police unit but this is still not being followed. The offences against children bill which provides protection against sexual abuse also awaits cabinet nod. According to child rights activists to avoid crimes against children it is important to have community level child protection mechanisms like community watch dogs and committees for child protection, child welfare and anti-trafficking. These will create an interface between communities and state/district mechanisms. These can also monitor vulnerable children in communities and provide a base where people can report and address issues like abuse, exploitation and neglect. Creating spaces within communities and schools so that children can report offences against them can be also done. To overcome lack of awareness about child protection laws the information dissemination is important.
There is an urgent need to take up the problem of child sexual abuse as a larger social issue where the society has a responsibility, to help the victims overcome their trauma and move on with life as normally as possible. The issue has to be tackled at all levels, starting from the child, family, community, school, as well as law enforcers. Not only should the legal and judicial system be geared to handle the issue of child sexual abuse, at a more practical level, an all out effort needs to be made to sensitize the police. They act as the first contact point for people seeking immediate relief. Therefore, they need to be made aware of the vulnerability of children and their responsibility towards them as law enforcers.
Children are the future and it must be protected at every cost keeping in mind that

‘A child is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be lit’ François Rabelais.