Child Sexual Abuse, A Recurring Crime In India
A minor girl gets raped by 17 men over several months in India. A minor boy commits suicide because he got raped by a neighbor. A girl’s father gets killed who fights for to get justice for his daughter who had gotten raped by an influential person. There has been a rise in number of rape cases reported in the country.
Earlier before 2012, the definition of rape was specifically forceful penetration. This way, if a victim has not been typically penetrated but molested otherwise, the case does not qualify as a rape case. According to the government data, after the declaration of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of November 2012, the number of reported cases of child rape rose by nearly 45% the next year.
According to a survey conducted by the ministry of women and child development in 2007, from 12,447 children, more than half had faced some form of sexual abuse. Of those victims, 53% were male children. According to some government officials, most cases of child sex abuse faced by young boys are not even reported because of the attached stigma around homosexuality.
There are 444.1 million children in India that constitute 36% of the total population. In fact, the country has largest child population in the world. However, between 2008-12, 0.452 million (4 lakh 52 thousand) cases of child trafficking for forced labour were registered. Of these, prosecution was launched in less than 6% cases and conviction awarded in less than 1% cases.
Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, has been at the forefront of the global movement to end child slavery and exploitative child labour. After rescuing over 80,000 child slaves, Mr Satyarthi has developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation.
“If child labour, slavery, trafficking, and violence against children continues, we will fail to accomplish most of the development goals,” says Mr. Satyarthi.
India is a developing country with a ton of potential. The government, extremely vocal about its development goals is working towards achieving them too. However, how will the country ever succeed if children, who are the future of the country are not getting the proper care, resources and most importantly safety that they deserve. How can we ever dream to build a sound nation when today we, out of fake honour are hiding the hideous crimes, empowering the criminals to keep acting in the same manner and scarring the minor victims for life?
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The CSR Journal Team
