Child abuse in India

One of the biggest social stigmas attached to a society is that of child

abuse. A child can be abused physically, sexually or mentally. It can be in
the form of injury, neglect or negligent treatment, blaming, forced sexual
stimulation and activity, incest exploitation and sexual abuse. Child abuse
can take place in homes, schools, orphanages, residential care facilities, on
the streets, in the workplace, in prisons and in places of detention. Violence
in any form has a very deep impact on the overall development of the
child. Child abuse results in actual or potential harm to the child's health,
survival, development and dignity.

53% of children in India face some form of child sexual abuse. According to
the National Crime Records Bureau, the cases of rape and murder of
children increase every year. The growing complexities of life and the
changed social economic conditions have exposed the children to new and
different forms of abuse. But the sad state of the affairs is that such
heinous acts are reported less. It has such a psychological impact on the
mind of the child that he seldom gathers the courage to speak about the act
being committed against him. If even if he confides the fact with someone,
the social factors let the fact being dumped under the fear of family
reputation and other related issues. In fact child abuse is a violation of the
basic human rights of a child.

WHAT IS CHILD ABUSE

As per the definition given by UNICEF, violence can be physical and
mental abuse and injury, neglect or negligent treatment, exploitation and
sexual abuse. Violence may take place in homes, schools, orphanages,
residential care facilities, on the streets, in the workplace, in prisons and in
places of detention. Such violence can affect the normal development of a
child impairing their mental, physical and social being. In extreme cases
abuse of a child can result in death.
Definitions
Definitions of what constitutes child abuse vary among professionals, between social and cultural
groups, and across time.[3][4] The terms abuse and maltreatment are often used interchangeably in
the literature.[5]:11 Child maltreatment can also be an umbrella term covering all forms of child
abuse and child neglect.[1] Defining child maltreatment depends on prevailing cultural values as
they relate to children, child development, and parenting.[6] Definitions of child maltreatment can
vary across the sectors of society which deal with the issue,[6] such as child protection agencies,
legal and medical communities, public health officials, researchers, practitioners, and child
advocates. Since members of these various fields tend to use their own definitions,
communication across disciplines can be limited, hampering efforts to identify, assess, track,
treat, and prevent child maltreatment.[5]:3[7]
In general, abuse refers to (usually deliberate) acts of commission while neglect refers to acts of
omission.[1][8] Child maltreatment includes both acts of commission and acts of omission on the
part of parents or caregivers that cause actual or threatened harm to a child. [1] Some health
professionals and authors consider neglect as part of the definition of abuse, while others do not;
this is because the harm may have been unintentional, or because the caregivers did not
understand the severity of the problem, which may have been the result of cultural beliefs about
how to raise a child.[9][10] Delayed effects of child abuse and neglect, especially emotional neglect,
and the diversity of acts that qualify as child abuse, are also factors. [10]
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines child abuse and child maltreatment as "all forms
of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or
commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child's health,
survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or
power."[11] In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses the
term child maltreatment to refer to both acts of commission (abuse), which include "words or
overt actions that cause harm, potential harm, or threat of harm to a child", and acts of omission
(neglect), meaning "the failure to provide for a child's basic physical, emotional, or educational
needs or to protect a child from harm or potential harm".[5]:11 The United States federal Child
Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum, "any
recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious
physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation" or "an act or failure to act which
presents an imminent risk of serious harm".

Child abuse has many forms: physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, and
exploitation. Any of these that are potentially or actually harmful to a child's
health, survival, dignity and development are abuse.

Physical Abuse:
Physical abuse is the inflicting of physical injury upon a child. This may
include burning, hitting, punching, shaking, kicking, beating or otherwise
harming a child. The parent or caretaker may not have intended to hurt the
child. It may, however, be the result of over-discipline or physical
punishment that is inappropriate to the child's age.

Sexual Abuse:
Sexual abuse is inappropriate sexual behaviour with a child. It includes
fondling a child's genitals, making the child fondle the adult's genitals,
intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism and sexual exploitation. To
be considered ‘child abuse’, these acts have to be committed by a person
responsible for the care of a child (for example a baby-sitter, a parent, or a
daycare provider), or related to the child. If a stranger commits these acts,
it would be considered sexual assault and handled solely by the police and
criminal courts.

Emotional Abuse:
Emotional abuse is also known as verbal abuse, mental abuse, and
psychological maltreatment. It includes acts or the failures to act by parents
or caretakers that have caused or could cause, serious behavioral,
cognitive, emotional, or mental trauma. This can include parents/caretakers
using extreme and/or bizarre forms of punishment, such as confinement in
a closet or dark room or being tied to a chair for long periods of time or
threatening or terrorizing a child. Less severe acts, but no less damaging,
are belittling or rejecting treatment, using derogatory terms to describe the
child, habitual tendency to blame the child or make him/her a scapegoat.

Neglect:
It is the failure to provide for the child's basic needs. Neglect can be
physical, educational, or emotional. Physical neglect can include not
providing adequate food or clothing, appropriate medical care, supervision,
or proper weather protection (heat or cold). It may include abandonment.
Educational neglect includes failure to provide appropriate schooling or
special educational needs, allowing excessive ancestries. Psychological
neglect includes the lack of any emotional support and love, never
attending to the child, substance abuse including allowing the child to
participate in drug and alcohol use.

PHYSICAL ABUSE
The World Health Organization defines 'physical abuse' of a child as an
incident resulting in actual or potential physical harm from an interaction or
lack of interaction, 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. The Indian society demands the children to be
obedient to their parents. Any form of disobedience leads to anguish
amongst the parents as to the misbehavior of the child which often leads to
the reprimanding the child. Parents often resort to physical beating of the
child to discipline the child. Not only does the parents resort to physical
abuse of the child but it more common in schools and workplaces where
the children are physically maltreated for their wrongs. Corporal
punishment to a child whether it is at school, home or at workplace
amounts to violation of the human rights of the child. It violates the right of
the child to live with dignity and freedom from violence, their right to be
 loved and cared for and their right to be nurtured with respect. Physical
abuse creates a feeling of resentment and harshness in the child.
SEXUAL ABUSE
As defined by the World Health Organization, child sexual abuse is the
involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully
comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or that violates the laws
or social taboos of society. Child sexual abuse is evidenced by this activity
between a child and an adult or another child who by age or development
is in a relationship of responsibility, trust or power, the activity being
intended to gratify or satisfy the needs of the other person. This may
include but is not limited to:

 The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful activity

 The exploitative use of a child in prostitution or other unlawful sexual
practices
 The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and
materials.

53% of children in India face some form of child sexual abuse. Children
who report having been sexually assaulted is 6% and the cases where the
abuser was in a relationship of trust with the child is 50%. Home is the
place where the child is the safest but now days the scenario has changed.
In most of the cases of sexual abuse some close relative is the perpetrator
o the crime. Due to fear the child does not complain about the incident.
Such matters as secretly dumped inside the walls of the house to protect
the reputation of the family. Children working as domestic labour or help in
hotels and restaurants or any other place of work are susceptible to sexual
abuse. Moreover the abandoned children are also easy victims of the
crime. A number of children ago missing ever year and are forced to enter
prostitution and exposed to other forms of sexual abuse. Children nowhere
are safe from the heinous act of sexual abuse. Poverty, age, gender, caste,
lack of safe spaces, lack of schools, lack of proper institutional care for
children without functional families, etc make the child prone to sexual
abuse. As compared to girls, the boys are also at an equal risk of sexual
abuse. Sexual abuse affects the social, mental and physical growth and
outlook of the child.

EMOTIONAL ABUSE
The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined emotional abuse to
include the failure to provide a developmentally appropriate, supportive
environment, including the availability of a primary attachment figure, so
that the child can develop a stable and full range of emotional and social
competencies commensurate with her or his personal potentials and in the
context of the society in which the child dwells. There may also be acts
towards the child that cause or have a high probability of causing harm to
the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.

These acts must be reasonably within the control of the parent or person in
a relationship of responsibility, trust or power. Acts include restriction of
movement, patterns of belittling, and denigrating, scapegoating,
threatening, scaring, discriminating, ridiculing or other non-physical forms
of hostile or rejecting treatment.

Examples of these acts are restricting movement, threatening, scaring,

discriminating, ridiculing, belittling, etc. In India a rising concern is the
pressure children feel to perform well in school and college examinations,
which can be seen as a form of emotional stress and abuse. The children
who had undergone emotional are more prone to depression,
estrangement, anxiety, low self-esteem, inappropriate or troubled
relationships, or a lack of empathy.

NEGLECT

Neglect or negligent treatment is purposeful omission of some or all

developmental needs of the child by a caregiver with the intention of
harming the child. This includes the failure of protecting the child from a
harmful situation or environment when feasible. Not providing adequate
food or clothing to the child, not providing adequate medical care, rejection
and abandonment, failure to provide appropriate schooling, lack of
emotional support and love are some forms of neglect. Our Indian society
has a special affection for sons and this scenario the daughters are often
neglected by the families while the sons are given preference in everything.
Children who face neglect from their family and friends become quite suffer
from psychological complications. It again affects their physical and mental
growth and often such children turn very aggressive also.
LEGAL PROVISIONS FOR PROTECTION OF CHILDREN
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND DECLARATIONS
India has signed a number of international documents and declarations that
pertain to the rights of the children. The United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UN CRC) was assented to by India in 1992. In 2005,
the Government of India accepted the two Optional Protocols to the UN
CRC, addressing the involvement of children in armed conflict and the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography. India also signed the
International Conventions on Civil and Political Rights, and on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights. India is also a signatory to the Convention on
the Rights of the Child (CRC) adopted by the UN General Assembly in
1989 prescribing standards to be adhered to by all State parties in securing
 the best interest of the child and outlines the fundamental rights of children,
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW) also applicable to girls under 18 years of age and the
SAARC Convention on Prevention and Combating Trafficking in Women
and Children for Prostitution.

CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
The Constitution of India contains a number of provisions for the protection
and welfare of the children. It has empowered the legislature to make
special laws and policies to safeguard the rights of the children. Articles 14,
15, 15(3), 19(1) (a), 21, 21(A), 23, 24, 39(e) 39(f) of the Constitution of
India contain provisions for the protection, safety, security and well-being of
all it's people, including children.

National Policies
The major policies that have been formulated to ensure child rights and
improvement in their status are:

 National Policy for Children, 1974

 National Policy on Education, 1986
 National Policy on Child Labour, 1987
 National Nutrition Policy, 1993
 Report of the Committee on Prostitution, Child Prostitutes and Children of
Prostitutes and Plan of Action to Combat
 Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children,
1998
 National Health Policy, 2002
 National Charter for Children, 2004
 National Plan of Action for Children, 2005

Statutes dealing with the protection of Children

Following Acts were enacted for the welfare and protection of the rights of
the children:

1. The Indian Penal Code, 1860

 Foeticide (Sections 315 and 316)

 Infanticide (Section 315)
 Abatement of Suicide: Abatement to commit suicide of minor (Section 305)
 Exposure and Abandonment: Crime against children by parents or others
to expose or to leave them with the intention of abandonment (Section 317)
 Kidnapping and Abduction (Section 360 to Section 369)
 Procurement of minor girls by inducement or by force to seduce or have
illicit intercourse (Section 366-A)
 Selling of girls for prostitution (Section 372)
 Buying of girls for prostitution (Section 373)
 Rape (Section 376)
 Unnatural Sex (Section 377)

2. The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of

Misuse) Act, 1994

This is an Act for the regulation of the use of pre-natal diagnostic

techniques and for the prevention of misuse of such techniques for the
purpose of prenatal sex determination leading to female foeticide and for
matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

3. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 provides
for proper care, protection and treatment of children in conflict with law and
children in need of care and protection by catering to their development
needs, and by adopting a child friendly approach in the adjudication and
disposition of matters in the best interest of children and for their ultimate
rehabilitation through various institutions established under the Act.
Sections 23, 24, 26 of the Act deal with the provisions of child abuse.

4. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956

The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA) deals with the offences related
to sexual exploitation of children for commercial purposes and to provide
enhanced penalties for offences involving children and minor.

5. Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986Act provides for
elimination of child labour and provides for punishments and penalties for
employing children below the age of 14 years in various hazardous
occupations and processes.

6. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 was enacted to put a stop to
the practice of child marriages in India. For marriages already contracted, it
says that every child marriage shall be voidable at the option of the
 contracting party who was a child at the time of the marriage.

7. The Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005

The Act provides for the Constitution of a National and State Commissions
for protection of Child Rights in every State and Union Territory.

8. Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act, 2012

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 was passed by
the Parliament in May, 2012. The Act has been drafted to strengthen the
legal provisions for the protection of children from sexual abuse and
exploitation. Act defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years
and provides protection to all children under the age of 18 years from the
offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography. These
offences have been clearly defined for the first time in law. The Act
provides for stringent punishments, which have been graded as per the
gravity of the offence. The punishments range from simple to rigorous
imprisonment of varying periods. There is also provision for fine, which is to
be decided by the Court.

An offence is treated as “aggravated” when committed by a person in a

position of trust or authority of child such as a member of security forces,
police officer, public servant, etc.

Punishments for Offences covered in the Act are:

i. Penetrative Sexual Assault (Section 3) – Not less than seven years which
may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine (Section 4)
ii. Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault (Section 5) – Not less than ten
years which may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine (Section 6)
iii. Sexual Assault (Section 7) – Not less than three years which may extend to
five years, and fine (Section 8)
iv. Aggravated Sexual Assault (Section 9) – Not less than five years which
may extend to seven years, and fine (Section 10)
v. Sexual Harassment of the Child (Section 11) – Three years and fine
(Section 12)
vi. Use of Child for Pornographic Purposes (Section 13) – Five years and fine
and in the event of subsequent conviction, seven years and fine (Section
14 (1))

The Act also provides for the establishment of Special Courts for trial of
offences under the Act, keeping the best interest of the child as of
paramount importance at every stage of the judicial process. The Act
incorporates child friendly procedures for reporting, recording of evidence,
investigation and trial of offences. The Act recognizes that the intent to
commit an offence, even when unsuccessful for whatever reason, needs to
be penalized. The attempt to commit an offence under the Act has been
made liable for punishment for upto half the punishment prescribed for the
commission of the offence.

The Act also provides for punishment for abetment of the offence, which is
the same as for the commission of the offence. This would cover trafficking
of children for sexual purposes. For the more heinous offences of
Penetrative Sexual Assault, Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault,
Sexual Assault and Aggravated Sexual Assault, the burden of proof is
shifted on the accused. This provision has been made keeping in view the
greater vulnerability and innocence of children. At the same time, to
prevent misuse of the law, punishment has been provided for making false
complaint or proving false information with malicious intent. Such
punishment has been kept relatively light (six months) to encourage
reporting. If false complaint is made against a child, punishment is higher
(one year).

The media has been barred from disclosing the identity of the child without
the permission of the Special Court. The punishment for breaching this
provision by media may be from six months to one year. For speedy trial,
the Act provides for the evidence of the child to be recorded within a period
of 30 days. Also, the Special Court is to complete the trial within a period of
one year, as far as possible. To provide for relief and rehabilitation of the
child, as soon as the complaint is made to the Special Juvenile Police Unit
(SJPU) or local police, these will make immediate arrangements to give the
child, care and protection such as admitting the child into shelter home or
to the nearest hospital within twenty-four hours of the report. The SJPU or
the local police are also required to report the matter to the Child Welfare
Committee within 24 hours of recording the complaint, for long term
rehabilitation of the child.

The Act casts a duty on the Central and State Governments to spread
awareness through media including the television, radio and the print
media at regular intervals to make the general public, children as well as
their parents and guardians aware of the provisions of this Act. The
National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and State
Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) have been made
the designated authority to monitor the implementation of the Act.