Child abuse cases in India

Child abuse in India is one of the biggest social stigmas attached to the society. A child can be abused physically, sexually or mentally. The violence may have very deep impact on the development of the child so they seldom gather the courage to speak about what they have gone through. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the cases of rape and murder of children increase every year. But the sad state of the affairs is that such heinous acts are reported less. In fact child abuse is a violation of the basic human rights of a child. As the Parliament of India passed the 'Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Bill, 2011' regarding child sexual abuse on 22 May, 2012 into an Act. India is in 7th rank in cases of child sexual abuse. According to The Hindu, in a global compilation of reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) found online, India stands right on top of the list, with 11.7% of the total reports.

During this lockdown period, the scenario has become even worse. Vikas Puthran of Childline India Foundation (CIF) said that in the 10 days of the lockdown - between March 20 and 31, it has increased 50 per cent from the typical period. Normally they receive 2 lakh calls but this time they received around 3 lakh. In a year, generally they get about 9 million calls. Every parents should teach their child about 'good touch' and 'bad touch' when they are young. It will be good if children are taught in their schools as a part of education about how can they protect themselves from being a victim. Childline works for the protection of rights of all children in general, connected to everyone by the number 1098. It's high time the government looked into the matter seriously.

Priyanka Deka,

Noonmati, Guwahati