Loveleen Kacker - Childhood Betrayed: Child Abuse and Neglect in India

To the children of India,
who made me realize that I cannot live with my privileges
if I do nothing to help those not so privileged.

Contents

Part I
Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect

No social problem is as universal as the oppression of the child.

No slave was ever so much the property of his master as the child is of his parent. Never were the rights of man ever so disregarded as in the case of the child.

Maria Montessori

C hildren have traditionally been considered inconsequential and unworthy of interest or comment in an adult world. Even though the world has now recognized that children have rights of their own, there is still a huge section of society in India that feels that parents are the best judge of how to look after their children and there is no need for either the state or anyone else to interfere in child-rearing practices. But we now know that parents make mistakes; they abuse their children and they often take decisions that are not necessarily in the best interests of the child. All the abuse and trauma that children face are because they are considered the property of parents who can do what they like with a child. Sab chalta hai . They are only children, after all.

Child abuse is not a new phenomenon. Neither in India, nor in any other country. The difference is that many of the other countries recognized this problem earlier and took corrective steps to address the situation. An entire movement was organized around improving the conditions of abused, vulnerable and exploited children, orphans, destitute and working children, which opened up the issue to debate, and discussion. This eventually led to better laws and policies for children. In India, however, there has been a conspiracy of silence around the subject of child abuse, a total lack of understanding of child rights and an indifference to the plight of vulnerable and destitute children, especially in urban and semi-urban areas. To gain a deeper understanding of child abuse and its forms, extent and magnitude, an official study on child abuse was conducted in 2007 by the Government of India (Kacker et al., 2007). Apart from being the largest in-country empirical study of its kind, it also shocked the nation with its findings. The study established, beyond any doubt, that child abuse exists in India; that its dimensions are horrific, almost all children are at risk and need to be protected; and that, most importantly, the abuser is almost always known to the child and is often in a position of trust and authority. The study also established that children are so traumatized by the abuse that they no longer trust adults and are unable to talk to anyone about their experiences. On the other hand, it is also a fact that very few parents are comfortable talking about sex and sexuality with their children; consequently, a majority of parents are unable to empower children with either the knowledge necessary to prevent child abuse, or the ability to handle the crisis.

Defining Child Abuse And Neglect

Child abuse refers to any action or failure to act, that violates the rights of the child and endangers his or her optimum health, survival and development. Child abuse or maltreatment encompasses all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment and commercial or other exploitation resulting in actual or potential harm to the childs health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse of a child is any action that results in actual or potential physical harm resulting from an interaction or lack of one which is reasonably within the control of a parent or person in a position of responsibility, power or trust. There may be single or repeated incidents.

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is the failure to provide a developmentally appropriate, supportive environment, including the availability of a primary attachment figure so that the child may develop a stable and full range of emotional and social competencies commensurate with his or her potential, in the context of the society in which he or she lives. These may include acts that cause, or have a high probability of causing, harm to the childs health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. The acts include restriction of movement, patterns of belittling, denigrating, threatening, frightening, discriminating, ridiculing, or other non-physical forms of hostile treatment or rejection. These acts must be reasonably within the control of the parent or persons in a relationship of responsibility, trust, or power.

Neglect and Negligent Treatment

Neglect is the failure to provide for the development of the child in all spheres: health, education, emotional development, nutrition, shelter, and safe living conditions within the context of the resources reasonably available to the family or caretakers. It causes, or has a high probability of causing, harm to the childs health and to his physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development. This includes the failure to properly supervise and protect children from harm as much as possible.

Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is the involvement of a child in a sexual activity that he does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared, or that violates the laws or social taboos. Child sexual abuse is evidenced by such an activity between a child and an adult, or another adult who, by age or development, is in a relationship of responsibility, trust or power, the activity being intended to gratify the needs of the other person. This may include, but is not limited to:

• The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in unlawful sexual activity,
• The exploitative use of a child in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices,
• The exploitative use of a child in pornographic performances and materials.

Commercial or Other Exploitation

Commercial or other exploitation of a child refers to the use of a child in labour or other activities intended to benefit others. This includes, but is not limited to, child labour and child prostitution. These activities are detrimental to the childs physical or mental health, education, and spiritual, moral or social and emotional development.

Girl-child Neglect

Girl-child neglect is the failure to provide for all-round development of a girl child including health, nutrition, education, shelter, protection and emotional development. This also falls under gender discrimination (Kacker et al, 2007). There are four kinds of child abuse the world over: physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect and maltreatment of children. In the Indian context, a fifth dimension is added neglect and discrimination of the
girl child.

There have been very few studies on the subject of child abuse and neglect in India. We have always believed that the family and parents, the primary caregivers of the child, have the childs best interests at heart and will not harm or abuse the child in any way. That, unfortunately, is not true. On the streets, at crossings, in homes, at schools and institutions responsible for the care of children across the country, children are routinely beaten, slapped, threatened, verbally abused, deprived of the basic necessities of life and often even sexually abused. We have grown immune to the sights we see every day: children working as domestic servants, washing utensils and clothes, cleaning the windscreens of cars, selling flowers and tissues at crossings, working in brick kilns and carpet factories, slaving in firecracker industries and so on. When we buy beautiful coloured glass bangles for a paltry sum of Rs 15 or Rs 20, do we stop to think about the tiny hands that slaved in inhuman conditions to make them? Why do we not refuse to eat in homes that employ children as domestic help? Why do we talk about family prestige and social stigma even when we know a child is being sexually abused? Why do we consider physical violence necessary to discipline a child? Child abuse and neglect are taking place all around us; and the longer we close our eyes to this, the more we harm not only our own children, but the future of this country whose greatest strength lies in its human resources.