India Needs A Massive Public Campaign To Break The Silence Around Child Sexual Abuse

India Needs A Massive Public Campaign To Break The Silence Around Child Sexual Abuse

Time to speak up.

It isn't easy to talk about child sexual abuse in most Indian families. Last year, when journalist Barkha Dutt revealed that she had been molested by a distant male relative when she was 10, her struggle with fear and guilt stemming from the abuse, resonated with many, many Indians across the country. "It was the loneliest and most frightened I had felt as a child and the fear lurked in the shadows, following me into adulthood," she wrote. When Dutt broke the silence surrounding child sexual abuse, she spoke for countless Indian kids across the country.

A landmark report by the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare in 2007 revealed that as many as 53% of the 12,500 children surveyed between the ages of 5 and 12 faced sexual abuse, with 50% of the abusers being known to the child or in a position of trust and authority. Around 57% of those abused were boys. Most of the children surveyed did not report the matter to anyone. Despite the magnitude of the problem, the silence surrounding child sexual abuse is partly due to the shame and social taboo surrounding it.

As many as 53% of the 12,500 children surveyed between the ages of 5 and 12 faced sexual abuse, with 50% of the abusers being known to the child or in a position of trust and authority.

It is a reality that is familiar to many chid sexual abuse survivors. Pranaadhika Sinha Devburman was 4 when she was first abused by a family member. Four years later, she was molested again, by a caretaker who pretended to play a game with her. When she told her aunt, she faced laughter and ridicule instead of support. Too afraid to tell her parents about the abuse, she blamed herself for a long time. Later, when she was old enough, she decided to start a support group in school.

Courtesy: http://www.huffingtonpost.in/