INDIAN CHILD ABUSE STATISTICS — WHAT CAN WE DO?

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After centuries of being shoved under the carpet, the truth is out. And we, as Indi ans, should stop, hold our breath, drop our heads in shame, and introspect.

Here are the promi nent facts:

1) India has the largest num ber of chil dren (375 mil lion) in the world, nearly 40% of its population

2) 69% of Indian chil dren are vic tims of phys i cal, emo tional, or sex ual abuse (or read it as every 2 out of

3) New Delhi, the nation’s cap i tal, has an abuse rate of over 83%

4) 89% of the crimes are per pe trated by fam ily members

5) Boys face more abuse (>72%) than girls (65%)

6) More than 70% of cases go unre ported and unshared even with parents/family

What can we do? Here are my thoughts:

1) Educate our chil dren about sex. While state gov ern ments are on a spree to ban sex edu ca tion in schools, we can make a dif fer ence our selves. If you are par­ents, edu cate your child about appropriate/inappropriate behav ior, when to trust whom and how much, how to speak their mind out, etc. This can be (and should be) much before the “birds and bees” education.

2) If you are not par ents your selves, but know and care about other fam i lies of friends and rel a tives, open up this topic for dis cus sion and encour age the par­ents to do what is right.

3) If you leave your child at a creche, play-house, or use baby-sitters, carefully screen such places and people. Talk to other par ents who have used their ser vices before. Be safe and sure rather than trust blindly. I know nurs eries in India who use opium or other nar cotic drugs to put babies and chil dren to sleep so they can be man aged (and usu ally abused) eas ily. If you think this is not true, talk to any child coun selor or child care social worker in any Indian metro, who will edu cate you about the truth.

4) If you think talk ing about sex is dif fi cult for you, don’t just be embarrassed, shrug it off, and give it up. Many par ents don’t know their chil­dren are vic tims, and live in a fan tasy world of “noth ing like that would ever hap pen to my child”. Talk to your par ents in order to under stand what dif fi cul­ties they had to face cul tur ally when bring ing you up. That may give clues to how to over come cul tural taboos.

5) Change the “Elders are author ity, always right, always to be respected” cul ture to “Elders are always to be respected, unless they act wrongly” cul ture. This atti­tude, for cen turies, has encour aged the per pe tra tors of such crimes, and would be the most dif fi cult to change. But it’s never too late to start.

6) Be sen si tive to your friends, family, and acquain tances. Some of them may be vic tims of a dark past. Be a friend and couselor for them if they ever need your support.

7) Mon i tor, screen, and fil ter if nec es sary, the way your chil dren use the Net. Teach them about the impor tance of pri vacy when using instant mes sag ing, email, or social net work ing sites. As a corollary, if you know par ents who are not Net-savvy, but have bought a PC and net access at home for their chil dren, teach the par ents about the dan gers asso ci ated with pornog ra phy and the Net. Not being savvy themselves, they may be naive or not knowledgeable.

8) Talk and share your expe ri ences with other par ents. Let us learn from each other, and do our best to make soci ety safer for our children.

9) Finally, spread the word. Spread the aware ness. We owe it to the next generation.
With the knowl edge that our chil dren know the basic facts to safe guard them selves, we can at least hope to hold our heads high once again.

Hidden Darkness: Child Sexual Abuse in India