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EXCLUSIVE: CHILD ABUSE SURVEY

A Silence So Shrill

It's India's largest survey on child abuse. And it says half of our children are victims.
Anuradha Raman

'50% Children Abused'
These are the key findings from the survey conducted by the child and welfare department, the Delhi-based NGO Prayas and funded by the UNICEF. The survey, the largest of its kind in the world, is slated for release in March.
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Number of Respondents: 16,800 children, 5,000 young adults

States covered: 13, including Delhi, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Bihar, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh

50% Children who suffered abuse of one kind or other
30% Sexually abused by relatives or known persons
25% Sexually abused
50% Emotionally abused
40% Physically abused
60% Economically abused

Abuse Defined
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These are the different categories of abuse covered by the survey:

- Emotional abuse: When a girl child is constantly ill-treated for not being born a male. Or any child pulled up for non-performance in school.
- Sexual abuse: Extends from fondling to rape
- Physical abuse: Force used against a child by teachers, parents and others
- Economic abuse: Forced labour in both hazardous and non-hazardous places of work

The horrific Nithari murders in Noida near Delhi—scores of children abused and then murdered—is perhaps an extreme case. But the scourge of child abuse is very real. Hidden from the media glare, millions of children suffer abuse in silence. Outlook has got exclusive access to the largest survey on child abuse ever conducted in India. The findings of the study, to be officially released next month, are, to say the least, mind-numbing.

The survey, a joint venture between UNICEF, the Union department of women and child development (DWCD) and the Delhi-based NGO, Prayas, has taken a year to complete. As many as 16,800 children below the age of 18, and close to 5,000 young adults in 13 states, were taken into confidence to understand the extent of abuse. Working children, street children, children under institutional care and children within the confines of their family were spoken to.

The broad findings of the survey are disturbing. Till now it was assumed that child abuse was rampant only in juvenile homes, orphanages or among street children. But the survey proves that child abuse cuts across economic, social, religious and class barriers. Here are some of the startling findings:

- Close to 50 per cent of the respondents spoken to have suffered some form of abuse or the other.

- 25 per cent of the children have suffered sexual abuse, more often at the hands of family members or persons known to the victims. In more than 30 per cent of the cases, relatives of the child are involved.

- More than 40 per cent of the children have faced corporal punishment.

- At least five per cent of the respondents have resorted to substance abuse to cope with the sexual or physical trauma they were routinely subjected to.

The figures for the nation's capital are particularly depressing. Close to 25 per cent children surveyed in Delhi admitted to some form of sexual abuse. Nearly 71 per cent have been physically beaten by persons in positions of authority. In more than 56 per cent of the cases, the beating resulted in bleeding and 29 per cent needed medical attention. As for malicious emotional abuse, the figure for Delhi shoots up to 80 per cent.

The survey's findings should serve as a wake-up call for the government which has taken more than a decade to frame laws to protect children.

The findings are expected to pave the way for an effective implementation of the integrated child protection scheme which is currently in operation. For the purpose of the survey, child abuse has been defined in various categories. Emotional abuse, when a child is discriminated against purely for being of the less privileged gender (i.e. a girl) or for being a non-performer; sexual abuse which may extend from fondling to outright rape; economic abuse, defined as forced labour in both hazardous and non-hazardous places of work; and physical abuse when force is frequently used against a child by teachers, parents or other adults.

Since India is home to 19 per cent of the world's children, the government made it a point to spread the sample group across all sections of society. And that's when many unsavoury truths tumbled out. Our children, it seems, can be subjected to abuse in places where they are assumed to be safe—in playgrounds, schools and worst, at home. Arun Pandey of the NGO Anyway Rahit Zindagi in Goa says that child abuse has always been pervasive. "The only reason why people are talking about it now is because society is beginning to see children as victims and is making an attempt to reach out to them." The DWCD too quite candidly admits that issues like neglect, abuse and exploitation of children have not been addressed adequately.

Protecting children has never been high on the nation's priorities. The allocation for children in the national budget has always been measly. The share of funds for children in three key areas—education, nutrition, protection—in the Union budgets for the last two years has been less than 5 per cent of the total outlay. Child protection gets a mere 0.034 per cent of this. In rupee terms, this amounts to as little as Rs 3.76 spent on each child.

But the DWCD is now making the right noises to get children their due attention. A report on the integrated child protection scheme, prepared in December last year, states there is an urgent case for increasing expenditure on child protection. The draft says that the neglect of child protection issues not only violates the rights of the children but also increases their vulnerability to abuse. The department is also asking for Rs 2,000 crore under the Eleventh Plan for a proposed protection scheme for children.

Among the recommendations in the integrated child protection scheme, priority has been given to establishing preventive measures to reduce child neglect, abuse and vulnerability; providing professional child protection services and creating a mechanism for monitoring and social audit. An advanced child tracking system to monitor cases of missing children is also being sought to be put in place with the help of the UNICEF.

But social activists say that's not enough. Activist-advocate Ashok Aggarwal says that it should be mandatory to put every child rescued from forced labour or brothels into government-aided schools with hostels so that they can be integrated with the society. Says he: "I think it is high time the government began to really protect children instead of spending money on remand homes from where they usually escape to return to the very world from which they were rescued."

Hopefully, in a few weeks from now, when the survey is made public, there will be some introspection on the lives of those who will shape India's future. Those who have worked on the survey are certain a debate will begin on a legal framework to protect children. Yet the stark truth is that in a country so large and short on resources, many children will remain as vulnerable as they were on the day they were born.

(Outlook/26Feb2007)