The Children We Sacrifice, a documentary by Grace Poore, a South Asian feminist writer and activist of the Voices Unheard Sisters Unseen fame, deals exclusively with child sexual abuse (CSA). Though I haven’t watched the documentary, the message it seems to be sending across is this: CSA is an everyday reality for about half of India’s children, however, somehow, it remains the least undocumented offences in the country. It, therefore, is not surprising that no legislation specifically deals with the issue which can rightly be categorised as one of the darkest and most worrisome blots on the Indian society.
Just to list out, CSA is widely prevalent in India in different forms: trafficking, sex tourism, devadasi system, prostitution, pornography, incest, child rape and child marriage. The Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1986 (ITPA) are supposed to deal with most of the above heinous offences. The state of Karnataka, along with two other states, has special law to prohibit devadasi system. We also have the Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2006. Pornography is sought to be combated through the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 and the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Given the above scenario, the question as to why we need a separate legislation like the Goa Children’s Act, 2003 or the proposed Offences Against Children Bill, 2005 which awaits cabinet nod even after almost 4 years of its introduction, is intriguing. Well, the truth is the above listed legislations do not deal effectively with the forms of CSA they seek to criminalise, let alone the hitherto unaddressed and ignored forms of incest and male prostitution. While inadequacy of bringing perpetrators of child rape to book follows directly from the very wording of Section 375, IPC, the 2006 Act on Prohibition of Child Marriages does not affect the validity of the child marriage. The ITPA has also come under constant criticism primarily for sexual abuse in ‘rehabilitation’ homes which are supposed to provide succour to victims of sexual abuse! Report of the Parliamentary Committee on the ITPA, 2006 even described rehabilitation under the Act to be nothing short of incarceration. The Bombay High Court in Prerna v. State of Maharashtra went so far as to say that children who were found soliciting for the purpose of prostitution should be considered as children in conflict with the law under Chapter II, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000! The Goa Anchorage Case is yet another instance where the law has failed miserably to deliver.
One could go on and on about the problems galore with the legislations that are in place. Then what about those crimes that the law does not even recognise as offences? Study on Child Abuse, 2007 conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development notes the horrific existence of incest that now pervades Indian society but is kept under cover due to reasons of family honor. This study by ECPAT International reports on prostitution of boys in the Indian city of Hyderabad, from where I write this post. The literature is rich with several such instances. Unfortunately, such evidence has not found favor with the Legislature and these crimes still continue unabated.
It is clear that the existing legal framework is grossly inadequate and insufficient to deal with child sexual abuse in an effective manner. The Goa Children’s Act and the Offences Against Children Bill provide some hope in the right direction. As the nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral rightly says,
“We are guilty of many errors and faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children…Many of the things we need can wait….The child cannot…..To him we cannot answer ‘tomorrow’. His name is ‘today’.”
The Offences Against Children Bill (which for the first time defines and recognises incest as an offence) must be made into a legislation as soon as is possible.
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8 Comments
Very nice Article, In India, the problem of child prostitution is a serious one, as forcing an innocent child into the flesh trade amounts to a severe case of human rights violation. I read some on http://www.lawisgreek.com/human-rights-violations-child-prostitution-in-india/
Most of the peoples are not aware about sexual harassment and its very important to make them aware this will help us to decrease occurring sexual harassment in our country. By the help of Pria’s (NGO) website we can came to know a lots of things base on sexual harassment. It’s my personal experience that this website helps girls a lot. Plus by using this website we will feel comfortable to explain to children, Kids and teenagers. We can share our views and queries with others in its forum……..
I am just sad about the children who are the victims of such crimes and there is no justice for them in the sense that they have to carry on with a life-long depression and trauma. Even if talk about justice in the terms, it is near impossible in such cases. In a country like ours, it can be easy to make laws or lodge complains(that too is sometimes very difficult) but its very difficult to do justice. The thing is that we can finally recognize incest as an offense,but can we ensure that victims will be able get proper legal aid because ultimately its the victim who has to face all the trouble and we are concentrating on making more and more laws, or repealing the existing ones.
From Saurav Datta’s comment on facebook,
-’Right, Ashwini. Have you read Pinky Virani’s “Bitter Chocolate”?’
I just read a nice summary of the book here,.. My advice is that all readers read it.
http://vaghelasv.com/bitterchocolate.aspx
S.377 was to emphasize that homosexuality is a sensitive issue as is incest. Both are facts and the society had turned a blind eye for a really long time. [The analogy between the 2 ends there.]
#1. I agree that there is nothing moral about subjecting a child to incest.
#2. No child deserves to carry a life long trauma(physical or psychological).
#3. The generalization stems from facts please refer to the CSA case mentioned herein [http://www.un.org.in/gender/images/VIOLENCEAGAINSTWOMEN.pdf]
People acknowledging CSA and talking about it is definitely progress.
My pessimism has its roots in the Law making process and later on its implementation.Laws are good, but they’d be better when properly implemented.
As far as the last statement i made in the previous comment, i still hold on to it. Talking/Debating and enacting a law are not snap decisions that can be done within a short period of time. What till then? The biggest question is how is anyone going to ensure security within the four walls? Because the victims age group ranges from being infants to teenagers. How are they(infants- 7yr old children) going to come ahead and talk about it?
First, I think the issue surrounding Section 377, IPC and morality or otherwise of homosexuality is an entirely different issue unconnected with the issue of child sexual abuse in any manner.
Second, it is definitely a fact that incest has been a reality for several Indian families. But the problem here is it is a grave truth for several children too, who almost in all cases are helpless victims. With the media now being more alert to reporting such issues and the victims being encouraged to talk about it, we take the first step in combating the problem: we recognize it exists. The second step would then be to take adequate legal measures to protect one of the most vulnerable groups in society from being helpless prey to it. (Here again, morality or immorality of incest as an issue in itself calls for a separate discussion. But I think we will all agree that subjecting a child to such behavior is not moral in any way.)
The issue basically is that incest exists, children are being subjected to it without their knowledge, it is known to have several psychological and physical impacts on the tender age of a child, we as a society and also as law people need to accept it exists and then take on from there towards debating efficient ways of dealing with this menace.
(I also have issues with the generalization that our country people talk about sanctity of family institutions but “they only talk and never practice the same…..in their house they are as immoral as can be”. If we were to follow this line, it would be better to give up on law and order, and safety and security of everyone for the better, since nothing is going to make any difference, whether talking and debating about the issue or finding means to tackle the problem through the instrument of law…or at least this is what the comment seems to suggest.)
This article is so bloody depressing but a very unfortunate fact. The fact is that incest has forever been a dirty family secret for many Indians. Coming into light now and talking about it openly is not going to make a difference.
The recent public uproar on decriminalizing of Section 377 of IPC itself is standing testimonial of how an average Indian thinks. Unfortunately our country people talk of morality and talk about the sanctity of familial institutions. But they only talk and never practice the same. Morals are for show when in public and in their house they are as immoral as can be.
Good article but just one thing I would like to point out, incest does not “NOW” pervade Indian society, it has always pervaded not just Indian but every society and every age. It appears to have loomed up suddenly only because the media is finally taking an interest in reporting it, and that in part because more survivors and families are willing to break the silence about it. This last point is the most important step towards ending abuse incidentally: abusers thrive on the silence, secrecy and denial .. without it, they could not continue to abuse children so freely.
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