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Chilling scenario of child abuse

With the gruesome Nithari killings turning the focus on child sexual abuse in India, the wide prevalence of the phenomenon has recently been highlighted in a study, which says that close to 50 per cent of Indian children are subject to various forms of abuse and exploitation. The study, details of which are to be released at the end of the month, was conducted by Prayas, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) for the Ministry of Women and Child Development collaborating with the United Nations Children's Fund, (UNICEF) and Save the Children's Fund. It found that every second child interviewed had experienced some form of physical, economic, emotional or sexual abuse. The study indicated that 25 per cent of the children were victims of sexual abuse with about 30 per cent being abused by close relatives. These chilling statistics, which emerged from a year-long survey of 13 States in the country, reveal the large-scale suffering and exploitation that children in India are subject to. Seventy-one per cent of the children also reported that they had been beaten, and over half said that they had injuries from being assaulted. The dire plight of these millions of Indian children, who endure exploitation on the one hand and poverty and deprivation on the other, needs to be addressed urgently.

With a separate Ministry of Women and Child Development and a National Children's Commission now in place, it is to be hoped that policies specifically oriented towards the prevention of crime against children will soon be implemented. The proposed Offences Against Children Bill is likely to include stringent legal measures to protect children. While several such laws already exist, many of them are not implemented with any degree of seriousness. Crimes against children ranging from trafficking to rape and child pornography often go unreported. Experts have pointed out that there is no database available for the large numbers of children (reportedly over 45,000 a year) who go missing from their homes, become victims of crime and exploitation, and die far from the protection of their families. The abuse of children must be dealt with on a priority basis by all State governments, ensuring that those who commit such crimes are brought to justice speedily. It is imperative that all the agencies involved in ensuring the welfare of the youngest citizens, including the police, judicial officers, administrators, educationists, and policy makers, act in a coordinated fashion to guarantee the basic physical security of this most vulnerable section of the population.

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