In the first week of February, India was classified as a developed nation. Two months later, the most online content on child sexual abuse in the world was from India amid the coronavirus pandemic that has led to an unprecedented rise in screen time.
There is an Indian way of thinking that has socially conditioned us, that ranges from topics of cricket and politics to our different way of perceiving a particular issue. This has led to the complication of us neglecting important sensitive issues in our social behavior and institutional courses and policies. These issues range from child sexual abuse, child-labor, women empowerment, awareness of sex education, eve-teasing and various forms of social discrimination. This neglect grows into a nightmare when such sensitive issues are forgotten in the name of social taboo.
According to National Crime Bureau in the year 2018 a total of 109 children are sexually abused daily in India; adding to that there are more number of cases of child sexual abuse than murders but we spend more time discussing murders and have the audacity to think child abuse not equally important as an issue to a murder. This mentality is not limited to the common people but ranges from media outlets, administrative authorities to the most elite and educated class. With the growing nightmare of child sexual abuse, along with recent emergence of various locker-room cases, there is an immediate need to ‘introspect’ and raise awareness among ourselves. There is an urgency to save humankind and its essential meaning especially children by understanding child sexual abuse and raising awareness and prevention of the same.
There is also a need for bringing changes in evidence law, methods of investigation and strengthening of the forensics department of the government to keep pace with the changes in the nature of child sexual abuse crimes. There should be emphasis on implementation of the laws and policies as it’s the effectiveness of the implementation, which sadly lacks, as the responsibility often keeps shuttling between the Centre and the states.
Every step counts, so the most basic effort can be taken by each on of us, which is to stop neglecting child sexual abuse. It will help to reach towards a childhood that every child deserves. At last, if one wonders ‘How can a person abuse a child’? It is also equally and really important to introspect and ask ourselves ‘How can so many good people not do anything about it’.
