Horrifying Truth about Child Abuse

Child abuse can be simply defined as the state of emotional, physical, economic, and sexual torment that is inflicted upon a person who is below 18 years of age. However, in India and several other developing countries, there has been no clear understanding of the extent, magnitude, and trends of the problem. The several dramatic changes brought about by socio-economic transitions in India have played a major role in increasing the vulnerability of children to several newer forms of abuse.

Though several NGOs are trying their best to make this situation better, a lot is still required to be done. Statistics suggest that about 19 percent of the total number of children in the world live in India, which constitutes about 42 percent of India’s total population.

Back in the year 2007, the Ministry of Women and Child Development published the “Study on Child Abuse: India 2007.” This study consisted of sampling sampled 12447 children, 2324 young adults, and 2449 stakeholders across 13 states. This study concentrated on looking at different forms of child abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse, and the girl child neglect in five evidence groups, namely children in a family environment, as well as those in school, at work, on the streets, and in institutional care.

The results of this study exhibited that 53.22% of children reported having faced sexual abuse. Among them, 52.94% were boys and 47.06% girls. Delhi stood first with the highest percentage of sexual abuse among both boys and girls, as well as the highest incidence of sexual assaults. 21.90% of child respondents faced severe forms of sexual abuse, 5.69% had been sexually assaulted, and 50.76% reported other forms of sexual abuse. Several children on streets, at work, and even in institutional care reported the highest incidence of sexual abuse. The study also showed that 50% of abusers are known to the child in some or the other way.