CHILD ABUSE

Alarming Facts from a Government study


"Child abuse is shrouded in secrecy and there is a conspiracy of silence around the entire subject. There is a belief that no child is abused in India."
Renuka Chowd hury
Minister of State for Women and Child Development


A shocking case of parents employing someone to kill their son Satish was reported widely in newspapers on January 8, 2005. Eleven year old Satish was alleged to have been infected with HIV, after a blood transfusion during his childhood. As the parents hated to have a son with HIV and since they felt that it would spoil their reputation, they decided to hire a man to administer a fatal injection to kill Satish.
"The parents wanted to kill him as they felt the son may affect their daughter’s future. They also feared that Sathish might tarnish the image of the family among the villagers and relatives," said T. Sundaresan, Superintendent of Police, Madurai.
Children in India, who form 19% of the world’s children and nearly 440 million, are living dangerously is a fact beyond statistical proof. Female infanticide to auto rickshaws packed with school children getting crushed under a speeding truck are our daily news.
The Reuters AlertNet poll conducted a survey among humanitarian workers and journalists to name three places they considered to be world’s most dangerous place for children. The three nations that topped the list are Iraq, Somalia and India.
India is a home for 100 million children who are out of school, 35 million who are homeless, where two out of every three children are physically abused. In India, Child abuse is either taken for granted or it has always been denied.
How safe are the children in the hands of parents? The incident we read was an extreme act of cruelty that a family could inflict on a child. As it involved high drama it got its media attention. But talking about domestic abuse of children is a forbidden fruit for the society as the general belief is that that’s where the children are safe and secure. The parents are often reluctant to admit and deal with child abuse of physical and sexual nature, involving family members. Or some even boast about the physical punishments they inflicted on the children, not considering that as an abuse. With all these ‘Indian Happy Family’ image was maintained.
Renuka Chowdhury, Minister of State for Women and Child Development at the Central Government, in her message on ‘Study on Child Abuse, India 2007’ reiterates that child abuse is shrouded in secrecy and there is a conspiracy of silence around the entire subject. There is a belief that no child is abused in India.
The recent path breaking study on Child Abuse by the Central Government’s Ministry of Women and Child Welfare is shattering and shocking. This is the first time that the Government’s agency is ever taking stock of the situation. The study was conducted in collaboration with UNICEF, Save the Children and Prayas.
The study reveals that "child abuse is common in India" and that "every second child is faced with sexual abuse and two-thirds have been physically abused".The study has taken two years to complete and covered 13 states of India where 12,247 children between 5 and 12 and 2,324 young adults (over the age of 12) were interviewed. The study claims that this is the largest of its kind undertaken anywhere in the world.
The study continuously makes shocking revelations such as among the 15,000 child respondents, 50.9% children were subjected to physical abuse by their mothers while 37.6% faced abuse from their fathers. Only 37.6% faced abuse by their fathers. Hence it is clear that most of the emotional and physical abuse suffered by children in our families is inflicted by mothers.
Another major set back in the growth of the children is also humiliation. Humiliation in early childhood haunts throughout one’ life if not guided and helped properly. Humiliation in childhood is a challenge for later formation of young adults and adults. Humiliation is referred as degradation of self-esteem of a child by shouting, belittling, using abusive language, comparison with other children etc.,
According to the study, 44.13% respondents reported facing humiliation. Here again shockingly, around 44.09% reported being humiliated by their mothers and 35.35 by their fathers. Among these 45.5% in the age group of 5-12, 42.25% in the age group of 13-14 and 43.54% in the age group of 15-18 reported being humiliated in the family environment.
Humiliation often builds around a sense of worthlessness in children. If parents treat a child as though he/she were there as bag and baggage and train to a constant state of surrender to the parental will, they sow the seeds of complexes. Say for example it could be the intolerance of a mother. The study too points out that She might always tell a child "Look you have no worth of your own. Your whole good is to come along with what I say". So, the child loses the basic human option - the option to love. The image of us is really product of what other people, rightly or wrongly, have told us from our childhood that we are. The ugly self-image, that is the result of repeated humiliation, can even cause human inertia, failure and unhappiness.
According to Dr. Loveleen Kacker, the official in charge of child welfare in the ministry under whom the study was conducted is of the opinion that substantial number of the abusers were "persons in trust and care-givers’ who included parents, relatives and school teachers.
Altogether almost 89% of children were subjected to physical abuse by their parents, who have the primary responsibility of protecting their children.
Among the respondents 48% girls whished they were boys as more than two out of three girls felt they were neglected. As per the study, the girls in the families are denied of opportunities for growth. They are more made use of for taking care of siblings and doing household works.
The reasons for child abuse lie within family itself according to the study. The factors are bad relationships, bad marriages, lack of job, lack of money, lack of educational skills, lack of parenting skills. All these have their repercussions on children. As fittest survives, it is the weakest that suffers.
The children also do not report the abuse to anyone. 50% of the young adults still feel that the abuse is matter of the family and should remain within the family. Children don’t betray the parents and relatives. It is rather a slender (17%) per cent of the respondents wish their abusers to be punished. Therefore the challenge is to convince the children to report abuse. But this could spark of a big debate in a society like ours. The idea of children reporting abuse to authorities is purely western. In fact, the study advocates such a reporting.
The study also mentions that high per cent of respondents need care and protection. It is an eye opener of the existing reality that was kept hidden and secret. Families are to be kept together but if the child is in eminent danger in family what do we do?
This study indicates that there is something seriously wrong with our kids in our society. It will also spark off another debate among the NGOs who are vehemently promoting family care as the ideal care for children. In a country like India, we need to look into the context of the society, family and children to decide the sort of care and protection we could plan. There is no single quick fix solution as often advocated by donor agencies to save the children of India.
Though the fact that the study has focused on the most vulnerable groups is of little consolation, the indictment of our Indian families’ cruel treatment to children is exposed. The study also recommends policy and legislations and the need for revision of National policy on children 1974 and need for stricter legislation on to deal with child abuses, to develop protocols on child protection mechanisms at all levels, need for national scheme to prevent vulnerabilities and provide services to those in need, out reach and support services like trauma counseling, medical treatment, police intervention and legal support, tracking missing children, shared responsibility of stake holders, capacity building and advocacy and awareness on child rights.
Well, all these would remain only pious exhortations in a country where families are struggling to recognize children as equal members of the family. Though the recommendations by the study are relevant and realistic yet its implementation into family environment requires no effort to be spared on the part of the Government, Citizens and parents. This is bound to take a decade to reach a decent level of awareness on child rights and protection. Such imminent problem needs immediate attention without delay.