Bangalore child rape case: Are we doing enough to protect our kids?

The recent incident of the gang-rape of a Class I student in an upmarket school in East Bangalore has brought back focus on one of the most heinous crimes in our society — child sexual abuse.

For India, sexual abuse has been a sensitive issue, especially in the aftermath of the Delhi Nirbhaya rape case. The Justice Verma commission report was followed by a change in the rape laws in the country, making amendments to the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Though the intense media glare ensured that the country could not deny the rampant cases of sexual abuse, instances of victim-blaming related to how women dress or what diet they follow have not subsided. 

Furthermore, as families, as institutions, as planners of public spaces, or as policy makers, we are not ready to acknowledge that child sexual abuse is an everyday reality. Though the idea is to not look at these children in terms of numbers, a couple of statistics will help understand the depth and extent of the problem. The Asian Centre for Human Rights noted that incidences of reported ​child rapes had spiralled from 2,113 in 2001 to 7,112 in 2011. A study by the ministry of women and child development in 2007 reported that two out of three children face physical abuse, and 42% of children face sexual abuse in some form.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) can be physically violent or non-violent in nature. Anuja Gupta, executive director, Rahi Foundation, who works with survivors of CSA, explains that it is one of the most traumatic experiences for a child because it occurs in a place that is otherwise supposed to be safe. “There is a traumatic sexualisation of the child very early in life. Along with this, there is a stigma and shame attached to such abuse and a feeling of helplessness and betrayal because the perpetrator of the abuse is someone who is in a position of trust.” In order to grasp the enormity of the situation, the child starts blaming his/her own self and the development of the child is severely compromised by the horrific experience.   

So are we doing enough as a society to protect our children? Nishit Kumar, Head of Communication and Strategic Initiatives, CHILDLINE India Foundation, elaborates that child protection has three components — prevention, intervention and rehabilitation. And India is not doing its bit in any of these sections. Kumar describes the “everyday child project” which carried out surveys in 11 states in India, where all spaces occupied by children including schools, hospitals, tourist spaces, buses etc were evaluated in terms of child safety. It came up with a 'Child Protection Protocol', which had to be made an integral part of all spaces that children would frequent.

For example, some of the protocols for schools could be separate toilets for girls and boys, separate toilets for children and staff, a policy of no extra tuition hours for individual kids etc. However, Kumar says that though CHILDLINE runs workshops and skits in schools to teach children the basics of safe and unsafe touch, schools often do not acknowledge how the problem could exist in their own institutions. 

Most people in the system are also oblivious to the laws​. Kumar says that the new laws say that policemen should meet the rape survivor anywhere the child wants to meet and that the child can be accompanied by a guardian if he or she wants. “But like any law in the country, there is the intent but not the implementation,” he says. Refusing to look at perpetrators as being mentally unfit, he adds that most of them choose to be in professions where they can be in proximity to children, in search for opportunist sex without resistance. 

The first step towards getting rid of this social evil must be acknowledgement. Children must be made aware that it could happen anywhere to anyone and that the perpetrators could even be someone in a position of trust. The idea is not to get paranoid but rethink how we, as a family, bring up our children. “Ask yourself if you are considering children as individuals with rights. Are we teaching them to be assertive, to say no to elders, to not touch the feet of elders if they don't feel comfortable? As adults, we must accept child protection is our responsibility. And we must speak to the child about this from a very young age,” says Anuja Gupta. 

Child sexual abuse is perhaps one of the worst perils that India faces today. Unlike other forms of sexual abuse, we cannot indulge in blaming the victim or other external forces (like the influence of Western culture). Child sexual abuse throws a mirror to the society and shows a face of humanity we are afraid to see. The only way we can fight what we see in this mirror is by first looking the problem staright in its eyes instead of brushing it under the carpet.