Even as a nation-wide debate rages over how the government can effectively deter and prosecute crimes against women, the Human Rights Watch, in its investigation into child sexual abuse has discovered and documented that children directly in charge of the government, religious and private institutions are facing sexual abuse.
The report says abuse occurs even in supposedly well-run and respected institutions because of “poor monitoring”. Child sexual abuse is “disturbingly common” in homes, schools and residential care facilities in India, it adds.
“India’s system to combat child sexual abuse is inadequate because government mechanisms fail to ensure the protection of children,” HRW South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly said.
The 82-page report, “Breaking the Silence: Child Sexual Abuse in India,” examines how current Indian government responses are falling short, both in protecting children from sexual abuse and treating victims. “Many children are effectively mistreated a second time by traumatic medical examinations and by police and other authorities who do not want to hear or believe their accounts,” the report says.
Blaming the state and community responses for the increasing child sexual abuse, the report says, “The criminal justice system, from the time police receive a complaint until trials are completed, needs urgent reform. Poorly trained police often refuse to register complaints. Instead, they subject the victim to mistreatment and humiliation.”
In four of the cases documented by the Human Rights Watch, doctors had used the “finger test” as a part of the examination of girl rape victims, even though forensic experts say that the test has no scientific value, and a top-level government committee has called for it to be abolished.
“It is hard enough for a sexually abused child or their relatives to come forward and seek help, but instead of handling cases with sensitivity Indian authorities often demean and re-traumatise them,” Ms Ganguly said.
The Centre passed the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in May 2012, which, for the first time ever in India, made all forms of child sexual abuse criminal offences. However, the HRW report says that “children are often sexually abused by people known to them and regarded as authority figures”.