A Socio-legal Perspective on Sexual Abuse on Child

Name:-Purva Khatri

(BSc LLB)

Introduction

Child sexual abuse is an age-old problem in India, and over the years cases of heinous acts
have been reported. One of the most significant problems is that our community has been
considering adult rape of a more considerable proportion whereas child sexual abuse is of the
same significance. The only difference here lies is that children aren’t aware that they were
sexually abused or they are too scared to inform their parents and some are scared of privacy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines CSA as:

The involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is
unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared
and cannot give consent, or that violate 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 sexual activity; the
exploitative use of child in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; the exploitative
use of children in pornographic performances and materials1.

Paedophilia and child sexual abuse has undeniably been in existence from centuries.
Paedophilia is a paraphilia that involves an abnormal interest in children. A paraphilia is a
disorder that is characterized by recurrent intense sexual urges and sexually arousing
fantasies2. It can also be agreed that paedophilia is a psychosexual disorder3.

Unfortunately, paedophiles do not come with insignia of being child molesters .In India,
people’s collective conscience shook when the news of the massacre at Nithari4 Broke.

1
World Health Organization . Report of the consultation on child abuse prevention
(WHO/HSC/PVI/99.1) World Health Organization; Geneva (Switzerland): 1999.
2
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MENTAL DISORDERS, available at http://
www.minddisorders.com/Ob-Ps/Pedophilia.html (last visited Feb. 5, 2013).
3
Id.
4
Neelam Raaj, Children at Risk, (Jan. 14, 2007) available at http:// articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-
01-14/special-report/ 27872204_1_nithari-migrants-crimestats.

1
Incidents of paedophilia often go unnoticed , mostly due to the naïve nature of the victim and
otherwise due to taboo and social pressure accompanied with its revelation. The child victim
is often threatened by the paedophile against any disclosure.

Hence, the ambit of sexual abuse is traumatic not only on the physiological growth ,but also
on the psychological well being such a child.

In India, Government of India survey reported that more than 53% of children in the country
were sexually abused but majority of cases went unreported. According to the women and
child development ministry report, those in the age of group of 5-12years reported higher
level of sexual abuse.

To curb the problem of child sexual abuse in India, Government had compiled POSCO in
2012.Befor the India didn’t have any statutory substances on this subject, but now this act is
administered by the ministry of development of women and children and works in eradicating
the sexual abuse of children, educating children about sexual abuse, providing children who
are a victim of violence a safe space and punitive punishment to convicts.

The Government has taken its initiative to deal with the matter by enacting the Protection
from Sexual Offenses Act in 2012(POSCO) however correct implementation of such laws
and policies is needed thus on the curb this social menace. Studies recommend that over
seven,200 youngsters, together with infants, square measure raped each year; specialists
believe that a lot of cases go unreported.

Review of Literature

Since dynamics of child abuse are multifaceted, thus, multidisciplinary research efforts are
needed to understand the root causes, consequences and strategies for prevention of this evil.
The child occurs more frequently because of various factors. One of these is Taboo to discuss
se and sexuality, there is reluctance to have the talk about sex particularly with children. As
there is an absence over the knowledge and teaching and a healthy environment, both
children and adults are in dark of the risks that follow though. Second is believing adults over
children and the last factor is Tolerance to Gender based violence, in India there is ignorance
on the level of accepting and tolerance towards gender based violence.

The World Health Organisation says one out of every ten children in India is being sexually
abused at any given point of time.

2
A Tata Institute of Social Sciences study conducted in 1985 among adults between the ages
of twenty and twenty-four proved that one out of three girls had been sexually abused as
children, and one out of every ten boys. That is: 30% of the girls had been victims of child
sexual abuse, and 10% of the boys. 50% of this child sexual abuse happened at home.

A 1996 survey-now considered a landmark in work on child sexual abuse-conducted by

Samvada in Bangalore among 348 girl students from eleven schools and colleges, threw up
startling data. Conducted scientifically by Anita Ratnam with Lucy Kumar, Dr Arun
Kotenkar and Dr Shekhar Seshadri, the first doctor in the country to specifically study child
sexual abuse, it found: (a) 83% of the girls had been subject to eve-teasing, 13% of these had
been vocally and visually sexually harassed when they were less than ten years old (b) 47%
had been molested, 15% of these when they were less than ten tears old: they were used for
masturbation, mostly by male relatives (c) 15% had been seriously sexually abused as
children, 31% of them when they were less than 10 years old: they had been raped, forced
into oral sex or penetrated with foreign objects and 75% of the abusers were adult family
members (d) around 50% of these child sexual abuse cases involved family members and
close relatives, they happened at home.

A study on Child Sexual Abuse carried out by Save the Children and Tulir in 2006 on the
school going children, finding of the report is astonished, major finding include that out of
the 2211 respondents, 42% faced at least one form of sexual abuse or the other. Among the
respondents, 48% of boys and 39% of the girls faced sexual abuse. Majority of the abusers
were people known to the child and strangers were a minority.

In most cases of the survey of this section of Indian society, the abuser was a part of the
victim’s everyday life, in the form of a father, brother, male cousin, uncle, male family
friend, male neighbour and servant.

Now to make justice to all the sexually abuse children POSCO Act 2012 was introduced.
Before introducing this act there were no perfect at to define sexual abuse against children.
The cases before the POSCO Act. Ghanashyam Mishra V. The State of Orissa 5, in this case
offence is committed by a person who was in position of trust or authority of the child. A
school teacher who raped 10 year old girl in the school premises and was convicted by court.

5
Ghanashyam Mishra v The state of Orissa 1985 II OLR 409

3
In Gorakh Daji Ghadge v The State of Maharashtra 6, in a case where the father was accused
of raping his 13 year old daughter at home, the Bombay High Court maintained that seminal
emission is not necessary to determine rape. It also prescribed stringent punishment because
the victim was the daughter of the accused. The judgement reads: “Crimes in which women
are victims need to be severely dealt with and in extreme cases such as this where the
accused, who is the father of the victim girl has thought it fit to deflower his own daughter of
tender years to gratify his lust, then only a deterrent sentence can meet the ends of justice.”

In Delhi Domestic Working Women’s Forum vs UOI and Others7, Six young domestic
workers travelling on a train from Ranchi to Delhi were brutally harassed, assaulted and
raped by army personnel. Acknowledging the hardships faced by the victims throughout the
judicial process, this judgement delineated several guidelines to be followed when dealing
with cases of sexual offences.

CONSEQUENCES OF SEXUAL ABUSE ON CHILDREN

Consequences of sexual abuse on children and youth can be evident in emotional, physical
and behavioural ways. These effects can be just as devastating whether there was only one
occurrence or there were repeated occurrences. Sexual abuse cannot be compared, because
each abuse experience is unique, so is the case with the consequences of the abuse. Effects of
child sexual abuse include guilt and self-blame, flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia, fear of
things associated with the abuse (including objects, smells, places, doctor's visits, etc.), self-
esteem issues, sexual dysfunction, chronic pain, addiction, self-injury, suicidal ideation,
somatic complaints, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, other mental illnesses
(including borderline personality disorder and dissociative identity disorder), propensity to
re-victimization in adulthood, and physical injury to the child, among other problems.
(Finkelhor, 1984; Ellerstein & Canavan, 1980)

The above analysis of the present study revealed that child sexual abuse is still a taboo in
India and even if it is reported, the young child who is a victim, is seen as a culprit or a
person who initiates abuse wilfully , by her own family who is supposed to be at the helping
side of the 325 victim. This situation becomes more degradable for the victims and in few
cases; the victims will start self-blaming themselves which leads to low self-esteem and self-
worth.
6
Gorakh Daji Ghadge v The State of Maharashtra 1980 CrILJ 1380
7
Delhi Domestic Working Women’s Forum v UOI and other 1995 SCC(1)14, JT 1994(7)183

4
Psychological consequences includes the victim’s perception of men, sign of depression,
suicidal tendencies, revengeful attitude, comfortability in crowd, wish to live alone or in
isolation and disturbance etc.

The overall analysis of personal changes of the victims of child rape and child
molestation/harassment revealed that they have the same interest in studies and work they
carry out but lost their interest in carrying out the hobbies. They are living for the heck of
living. They are not actually enjoying their lives post-incident.

Statement of Problem

The present study to focus upon the sexual abuse against children in India and to make the
society aware about the sexual abuse which they outcasts due to many reasons and make the
children aware about the sexual education so they can identify the offenders most of the
children does not even know the difference between good and bad touch and also sexual
abuse can be verbal or it can be online There is also a dire need to espouse sex education in
the curriculum of educational institutions especially at the primary level. Also to analyse the
extent of child abuse prevalent in India.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study the socio-economic background of the families of child victims and the
perpetrators involved in sexual abuse cases.

2. To unravel the diverse forces which are operative in the process of sexual victimization of
children.

3. To study the consequences of sexual abuse on children and it’s after effects on their future.
4. To suggest the ways and means for reducing the menace of child sexual abuse.

Hypothesis

5
It is hypothesized that those who have child abuse experiences have a distinct,
unconventional, and even deconstructed definition of family. Moreover, feelings of
resentment towards their abusers remain to be strongly felt even after a significant length of
time has passed by. Based from the presented literature, it is then hypothesized that effects of
child abuse involve anger , depression, poorer academic performance, and a strong sense of
insecurity.

Research Methodology

The researcher has followed the methodology of doctrinal research and collected data from
various sources like journal, reports and books for the completion of the project. The other
sources include the landmark cases on child abuse and also the researcher has taken the help
from the internet.

Scope of Study

This research is confined to non-commercial child sexual abuse by adult offenders. Hence
child prostitution and child sex trafficking are outside the scope of this thesis. This study is
about we should make several efforts to curb this social evil of child sexual abuse. And also
to show the consequence suffered by child after the incident. This study is the findings from
its comprehensive legal synthesis and analysis will make a substantial contribution to
knowledge and understanding in this complex, sensitive and fast-developing topic.

Significance of Study

A problem that is only beginning to come into light in India, sexual abuse of children is a
worldwide issue of intense discussion. Fortunately, the issue of child sexual abuse is slowly
becoming a more recognized issue, and for this reason, the present research study focused
much on The actual problem with this menace is that the disclosure of the cases is quite less
or minimal because disclosure is the most difficult and threatening step for a victim and
because of real and imagined difficulties, victims often won’t come forward. A child may be
embarrassed about the incident. Children, who most often have no formal or much less
informal education about sexual matters, often find they have mixed feelings about their
experiences and find it extremely awkward to discuss such matters. The consequences of the
sexual abuse traumatize the children throughout their childhood and even continue to create
imbalances in their emotions when they enter the adulthood. If the whole incident is dealt at

6
the right time and in an appropriate manner then a child sexual abuse victim can easily be
rehabilitated and can enjoy life like any normal person. The myth that paedophiles and child
abusers are predatory strangers needs to be dispensed 8 and this can only happen by taking
collective steps, out of which the quintessential one is to break the silence. There is a need to
create awareness about child abuse in a sensitized manner through non-governmental
organizations, television broadcasts and governmental initiatives etc. This sensitization
should not be targeted at the victim group alone but also to parents and guardians who remain
oblivious of these crude realities due to lack of education and exposure. Child helpline
numbers should be publicized for the benefit of the children. There also is a dire need to
espouse sex education in the curriculum of educational institutions especially at the primary
level.

8
Pessimism about Paedophilia, HARV. MENTAL HEALTH LETTER, Jul., 2010. (“About 60% to 70% of
child sexual abuse cases involving paedophiles, the perpetrator is a relative, neighbour, family friend, teacher,
coach, or someone else in regular contact with the child”).