Child Abuse: Why does India has the highest rate of child mistreatment

 

With one-fifth of the world’s children, India holds the dubious distinction of the largest number of child sexual abuse cases globally. More than half — 52.3 percent — of Indian children have been sexually abused, according to the 2007 “Study on Child Abuse” by the government’s Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Another survey by the Government of India has revealed that 63 percent of our children face some form of abuse. The last decade has seen a gradual increase in the number of child abuse victims – 8,804 in 2014, 14,930 cases in 2015.  The risk was found to be higher in children between the ages of 5 and 12.

Child abuse rate in India,

According to the NCRB report, 32,608 cases were reported in 2017 while 39,827 cases were reported in 2018 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The UNICEF report says that 69% of the children are suffering from physical abuse in their family and in a 13 sample state it was seen that 54.68% were boys. And there is an equal report of boys and girls in emotional abuse.

In India then according to the 2018 report, 109 children were seen to be sexually abused every day. According to the data of the National Crime Record Bureau, there was a jump of 22% from 2017, and the highlights of pornography in India has increased even more in the Pandemic.

However, people across the country were fighting the novel virus, but the lockdown has proved to be nothing less than a hell for the children stuck with their abusers at home.

Childline for children in distress, which is backed by the Ministry for Women and Child Development, received 3.07 lakh calls of which 92,105 calls were about the abuse and violence on children, during the lockdown in 2019.  It also saw a 50 per cent increase in the number of calls during this period.

There is a 95% spike in traffic to adult sites during the lockdown. According to the given data, there is a jump of 20% in consuming porn content from even before.

As per a report published by Interpol, around 24 lakh cases of online child abuse were reported over the period of 2017-2020, with 80% of the victims being the girls below the age of 14 years. Here, the data speaks only on those cases which have been reported by the people who understand this phenomenon as a social evil. But, the reality is that there is no exact count of child abuse cases, even today.

The frequency of all types of child abuse physical, emotional and sexual is exceptionally high in our country compare to other nations.

What is child abuse,

Child abuse refers to any act of violence or neglect by the adults or the guardians of the child or any other individuals which endangers the life of the child or the development of the child (both physical and psycho-social development) which in turn hampers the survival, and dignity of the child.

Child abuse can happen inside homes, schools, foster care institutions, at playgrounds, work places and online as well, through social networking sites. Its impact is generally ever-lasting and hampers the child’s development which simultaneously nullifies its usefulness as an asset for the country.

Child Abuse is one of the most common, frequent and highly prevalent challenges in the present atmosphere. The root cause of which is mostly found in the poverty ridden sections of the society, with domestic violence, substance abuse and illiteracy complementing the difficulty of the situation.

Few types of Child Abuse are:

Physical Abuse – Hurting a child's body, hitting hard with hands, belt, an object that leaves bruises, cuts, or any other injury causing pain. Example – Shaking, pushing, punching, and kicking.

Emotional Abuse – When a child is being threatened, bullied, not allowed to express his views, prevented from taking part in normal social interaction, telling them they are worthless or withholding affection. This can cause serious damage to a child’s emotional development.

Physical Neglect – When a child is not provided necessary basic needs of food, shelter or clothing, etc.

Emotional and Psychological Neglect – Continuous lack of positive attention, love, warmth, and security.

Sexual Abuse – Acts where a child is used by an adult for a sexual purpose. It can be sexual contacts such as sexual acts or non-contact sexual activities such as taking or sharing sexual photos and talks.  In most cases, the abuser is a known or trusted person.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is the most dangerous one. Sexual abuse is a problem that affects children worldwide. According to one study, one out of five girls and one in ten boys are victims of sexual abuse.

Children with special needs are more likely to be targeted by sexual perpetrators because they know that these children often don’t have the language or ability to disclose, and in some instances the child may not understand what is happening to them. 

According to a child abuse helpline, 1098 CHILDLINE, India has the largest number of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) cases. A child below 16 is raped every 155th minute and below 10 years of age is raped every 13 hours .

The National Crime Records Bureau report says- more than 47,000 cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were registered in 2020, while 1,70,271 such cases were pending trial by the end of the year.

Legal framework for the protection of child rights,

It cannot be denied that India provides all fundamental and legal rights to its children by ensuring the importance of their safety, care and development in their overall policies, plans and objectives.

Let’s take a look what act and amendments are provided by Indian constitution to stop child abuse…

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015,

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 was replaced by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and came into force on January 15, 2016. The act lays down procedural safeguards for children in conflict with the law and deals with two categories of children first, who are in conflict with the law and second who need care and protection. Chapter V of the act establishes a child welfare committee (CWC) in every district, also defines the role and responsibilities of CWC. Chapter VI lays down provisions related to children in need of care and protection. Chapter IX deals with certain offences against children including cruelty, selling children or offering narcotic substances to children. And section 75 deals with punishments for offences against children.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR),

In 2007, the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 constituted a statutory body the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The Ministry of Women & Child Development has administrative control over NCPCR. The commission was set up to protect, promote and defend child rights in India and to ensure that rights of child rights are consistent with the UN Convention of rights of the child and the Constitution of India.

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012,

The POCSO Act, 2012 deals with provisions related to protecting children from sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography. Further, this act establishes special courts for the trial of such offences. The act safeguards the interest of the child at every stage of judicial proceedings. The original POSCO Act itself is good enough to stop sexual assault on children but the cases are increasing alarmingly.

The Constitution of India provides judicial protection to the rights of children. According to the Constitution, the state, as directive principles of state policy, must seek to ensure, “that

children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against

moral and material abandonment.” The State is forbidden to impose its control on the individual liberty of citizens.

The following are the rights which are relevant to the child:

Article 14: The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India;

Article 15: The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, or any of them;

Article 15(3): Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children;

Article 19(1) (a): All citizens shall have the right (a) to freedom of speech and expression;

Article 21: Protection of life and personal liberty-no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law;

Article 21A: Free and compulsory education for all children of the age of 6 to 14 years;

Article 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour-(1) Traffic in human beings and beggars and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law;

Article 24: Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.,—No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment;

Article 39: The state shall, in particular, direct its policy toward securing: that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that,

citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to their age or strength; that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.

Why is India still unable to stop child abuse?,

Child abuse in India is a staggering reality. Given the importance it requires, is our law full-throttle in safeguarding its children which are said to be a “special asset” to the country? Or just making them more helpless in the hands of the law?

Despite every affirmative action taken with respect to children through several acts and amendments, their condition has not changed much over time, Why?

The answer is a rather simple one, people are unaware of their rights and the enactments (at the legislature level) which have been provided to them by the government, both at the Union level, and at the state level, even the literates are not aware of such laws.

One of the reasons for this could be the fact that as many as 70 per cent of victims of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) don’t reveal to anyone their abuse, so perpetrators are only emboldened and without anyone stopping them, many of them abuse several children for years together.

The other big reason is that the conviction rate under POCSO is so low — below 20 per cent nationally and in some states, it’s even in single digits. Also, pendency in courts for cases under POCSO is as high as 90 per cent, which means that perpetrators of sexual crimes against children are walking free with nary a care in the world — continuing to abuse children with no one to stop them.

Each year, cases registered under the POCSO Act are increasing. In three years from 2015 to 2017, there has been a 50 per cent rise in cases registered under the POCSO Act 2012. More than 47,000 cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act were registered in 2020, while 1,70,271 such cases were pending trial by the end of the year, the Women and Child Development Ministry said.

Regardless of the type of abuse, the result is serious mental and emotional harm which is often irreversible. In the Indian context, abuse is considered a taboo and is suppressed for fear of ostracization and insults. This further cements the perpetrator’s crime as a socio-cultural norm and normalises the act.

Do you know, child abuse is putting India in a financial deficit?

The impact of child abuse is not only over the abused child; contemporary findings show that soaring levels of child abuse have dreadful repercussions on the country’s economy as well over a stretched period of time.

According to a study on child budgets, by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, total expenditure on children in the areas of health, education, development, and protection combined accounted for as little as 3.86%, (2005–2006) rising to 4.91% (2006–07). The funds allocated to child protection was even lower than the whole number, resting at 0.034% in 2005–06 and remained the same in 2006–07. Available resources have been under-utilized in matters pertaining to child protection and safety. As a result, child protection in India is a far-cry.

Although there is a scarcity of data on nature, and magnitude of child abuse in India. But here are some facts acquainting you with our harsh reality:-

The world’s highest number of working children is in India.

India has the world’s largest number of sexually abused children.

16 years raped every 155th minute, a child below 10 year- every 13th hour, and one in every 10 children sexually abused at different points of time

Most of the sexual abuse goes unreported. Children are not given the protective, and therapeutic assistance they need, leaving them alone to suffer in silence.

How child abuse hinders the development of a country?

The social and economic costs of child abuse and neglect are difficult to calculate. Some costs are directly related to maltreatment, such as hospital costs for medical treatment of injuries sustained as a result of physical abuse and foster care costs resulting from the removal of children when they cannot remain safely with their families. Other costs, less directly tied to the incidence of abuse, include lower academic achievement, adult criminality, and lifelong mental health problems.

How can a nation advance in science and technology where a large number of children are neglected or abused?

It has often been observed that individuals who were found to be physically abused or neglected during their childhood by juvenile courts are more likely to abuse others according to their criminal record of violence as adults. Therefore, these criminals are a major blow to the peaceful co-existence of the society which is a major foundation for national development.

Secondly, Worldwide child abuse deaths are difficult to trace. However, what is known is that globally many children lose their lives due to child abuse.

According to data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), 51 States reported a total of 1,809 fatalities.

Based on these data, a nationally estimated 1,840 children died from abuse or neglect in FY 2019, a slight increase from the FY 2018 number of 1,780. However, it is a 10.8-percent increase over the FY 2015 number of 1,660. UNICEF research estimates that almost 3,500 million children under the age of 15 die from physical abuse and neglect every year in the industrialized world.

Despite the efforts of the child protection system, child maltreatment fatalities remain a serious problem. Although the untimely deaths of children due to illness and accidents are closely monitored, deaths that result from physical abuse or severe neglect can be more difficult to trace.

Physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect can prove fatal to the child, which would affect him/her in adulthood. He will have no psychological maturity and will also lack self-worth.

Of course, the result will be an unbalanced adult, who will not be able to handle difficult situations or who will not prove to be a good leader for his family, how does he talk about leading the society at large? A nation full of such people runs the risk of not having dedicated and patriotic citizens who will be unable to uphold the values ​​of their motherland.

Child abuse results in perniciously effecting the child’s education and work performance. Abused children mostly lean towards substance abuse as a result of prolonged exposure to the vicious atmosphere. This reduces the child’s productivity as a human capital which is in turn detrimental for the development of the nation. Somewhere, all these facts clog the progress of a country.

Preventions,

Children are vulnerable to abuse and, depending on their age, may not know or understand child abuse. For this reason, child mistreatment can go unreported and unaddressed. To prevent and combat the abuse of children, it’s up to all of us, neighbors, community members, clinicians, and other members of society, to intervene.

Preventing child maltreatment requires a multi-sectoral approach. Supporting parents and teaching positive parenting skills are the most important parts of prevention.

Trained professionals can investigate the situation and connect the child to relevant services if abuse is confirmed. They can then begin the process of recovery, starting with diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care.

Programmes to prevent child sexual abuse-These are usually delivered in schools and media and teach children about body ownership, the difference between good and bad touch. Children are taught to recognize abusive situations , to say “no” when in suspicion and to disclose abuse to a trusted adult.

As well as Personal Safety Education in the school curriculum should be added— so that children are made aware of the dangers of sexual abuse and taught how to protect themselves from sexual predators. As the first step, children need to be taught to tell someone they trust, about anyone who is trying to abuse them. Often the reason children are not able to ward off predators is because — in over 90 per cent of cases — the abusers are people they know and are in a position of power and authority and someone the child, and often, their parents also trust.

To maximize the effects of prevention and care, WHO recommends that interventions are delivered as part of a four-step public health approach:

Defining the problem;

Identifying causes and risk factors;

Designing and testing interventions aimed at minimizing the risk factors;

Disseminating information about the effectiveness of interventions and increasing the scale of proven effective interventions.

Conclusion,

Child abuse is universal whether the country is developed or developing, peaceful or civil war involving. But, the effects of child abuse on a nation’s development cannot be ignored.

In over 50 per cent cases, children are abused by their uncles and older cousins, and parents — in most cases — have no clue that their children are being abused by their own brothers, brothers-in-law or nephews. Increasingly, we see girls also are getting abused by their own fathers and brothers.

Governments will have to stop this menace as the effects of sexual abuse last well into adulthood and these are devastating.

Despite the presence of well-established laws increasing number of child abuse cases in India suggests that a reform in functioning and coordination at all levels is essential to reduce instances of abuse. A multidisciplinary approach involving a combination of the government, NGOs, social workers and experts is crucial to combat the evil of child abuse effectively.