CHENNAI: Cases of child abuse are difficult to prove even when the child is taken away from the abusers, say activists. While boys volunteer information more readily, girls tend to lie "out of shame", they noted.

The children were likely to forget the trauma over a five or six-month period if they were away from home, said members of the Chennai district Child Welfare Committee (CWC). When children refuse to talk, committee members seek out peer groups for information. "One child told me that his parents were dead. Some children simply refuse to go back home. Girls lie more than boys, more out of shame," said T. Alagappan, a CWC member and a former probation officer.

State agencies such as the police are of little help. To cite one example, a 15-year-old schoolgirl from North Chennai was forcibly married to her mother's paramour. But it was the girl's courage that helped her. The police remained unmoved by her plight, said Geetharamani Shanmugam, a CWC member. The committee comes under the Directorate of Social Defence in the Department of Social Welfare.

Kamala (name changed), a minor, was helped by a friend to escape home. Her mother and husband were arrested after a medical examination found that her husband had sexually abused Kamala. Though the traumatised girl had her examination hall ticket, she could not take the exams. She now lives with her 18-year-old sister. Efforts are on to get her marriage annulled using the judicial powers vested with the committee.

Ms. Shanmugam said women in the 30-45 age group, who were victims of alcoholic husbands and domestic abuse, dumped their children in government homes citing poverty. "They tend to shirk responsibility and we cannot do much except help the children."

In one case, a seven-year-old refused to return to her mother because her mother's new boyfriend was "difficult" to handle. A check revealed that her mother lived in the same town and had deposited the child at a government girls' home as she feared for her child's safety.

In the past six years alone, more than 300 children may have left home, says another CWC member.

The five members of the committee are screening 30 to 40 children every day this week.

Abandoned children

Abandoned children are sent to "fit institutions" but mentally retarded children have nowhere to go, said Mr. Alagappan. When children refuse to go home, a probation officer visits the child's house and school and talks to neighbours, friends, parents and siblings. "Only if we are sure that the child will not be happy there do we send them to an institution," he said.

The committee accepts abandoned children but the probation officer deals with surrendered children.

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