Sunidhi Mahajan
Public knowledge and attitudes toward child sexual abuse are shaped through media depictions and coverage. Since the media are the main source of information about child sexual abuse, studies of child sexual abuse news can help us understand how news is created, how child sexual abuse is presented to the public and what is the possible impact of such presentation and coverage on the audience. No one likes to talk about child sexual abuse.In today’s modern times following the mythical system, itis presumed that children are safe in their homes. The mentality in such case makes the perpetrator roam free without any fear of the justice.
But the question arises what actually is Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)? According to the World Health Organization (WHO), CSAis”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 violates the laws or social taboos of society…” Sexual mistreatment comprises of physical and nonphysical conducts. These include: the abusers induce the children to touch their sexual body parts or perform other sexual acts, including fellatio, frottage, cunnilingus, sexual penetration with penis, fingers or other objects, mouth-to-mouth deep kissing, and caressing of chests, buttocks, and thighs. Non-touch sexual abuse involves children in prostitution, photographing or videotaping children in sexual poses, peeping on them, exhibiting sexual body parts, treating children as sexual objects, and other sexualized behaviours such as suggestive talk and looks.Child abuse is defined as the “physical or psychological mistreatment of a child, commonly by a person who is in a spot of trust or power”. It is a thoughtful collective problem that affects not only the quality of life but also reduces the living aspiration of countless survivors in India, United States and internationally. Abuse has a tendency to be transferred from one peer group to the next peer group, and the individual utmost responsible for the abuse includes parents or other adult members of the household. It exhibits in different forms, counting physical and psychological violence, rape, masturbation, pornography and can ensue in the home, neighbourhoods, at school, at work and in authorized places as well.
On a daily basis there are headlines in the newspaper that fetches the dark reality of our society covering the abuse of the child. It is the most horrific reality of today’s world which breaks the myth of basic family norms that the children are safe in their home. This myth shatters when it is found that the most of the abusers belong to the same blood, a father, step-father, grandfather, cousin, uncle, or any other known person. The “World report on Violence and Health” (2002) explicates that most of the abuse cases (50%) where the abuser is a known person; the children fail to protest or get any type of help from other members of the family.Aamir Khan’s popular show, Satyamev Jayate where he quoted a survey conducted in 2007 by the Women and Child Development Ministry and NGO Prayas in association with UNICEF and save the children across 13 states and sample of 12,447 children. Aamir further conducted a workshop for children to teach them about the ‘good touch and the bad touch’ with the help of various diagrams and provides a number for the abused child for help by SMSing Y to 5782711.
It is seen that CSA is a crime which is very challenging to notice and continues for long. The Committers of the abuse usually roam fearlessly as they are the persons mostly in the position of trust and power whether it is a part of the family or a known person. The known abusers include: family consultants, teachers, driver, legislators, technicians, labourer, shopkeeper and anyone nearby the child. It has been practical proved that both men and women can act as an abuser, and can abuse both the sexes. It is not necessary that a single abuser can abuse a single child, sometimes the number is multiple in number. The film industry shows a significant character in the wakefulness of the general population by producing many relevant movies. There are a number of movies whose main theme is Child Sexual Abuse, some of the Indian Bollywood movies includes: “I Am”, that shows the power of saying “No!”; “Page 3”, that speaks about how ‘respectable’ people can be involved in child trafficking and abuse; “Monsoon Wedding”, that shows how necessary it is for family to stand by a survivor; “Kahaani 2”, that tries to tackle child sexual abuse head-on.
It is daring venture to provide powerful voice to the victimized child by near and reserved ones. The victims share their dilemma, ache and degrading experiences which challenges the notions of upper and middle class Indian society, family honour and morality. It discloses how children are sexually abused by their own cousins, relatives or any other known person and then they are silenced them submission. The two major factors which proliferates CSA involves silence and the tolerance of the abusive behaviour. Societal pressure is the foremost cause behind the silence of the abusive behaviour. CSA victims suffer from double insecurities: first from their loved ones and other from the family.
CSA shakes the whole being, by losing their self-confidence and by developing many kinds of complexes and syndromes a large no of them suffered from learned helplessness. On 19 March 2013, the Indian Parliament passed a new law with the goal of more effectively protecting women from sexual violence in India. It came in the form of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which further amends the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973, the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) 2012. The most common section is 354 – Assault or use of criminal force with intent to outrage modesty, Up to two years of imprisonment. Section 375,376 – rape, penile penetration in the vagina is the only kind which is considered as legal rape case.
The act of violence is not self-contained rather it disturbs the very framework of society. The active cooperation of family, friends and colleagues helps the victim in overcoming trauma and pain. Ironically in the case of CSA the victim maintain silence for their family honour and due to fear of societal rejection and boycott. The society and the legal system should work together to protect innocent children from being sexually abused and their perpetrators should be punished. Child Sexual Abuse is “an obscure truth that consistently wreaks our day-to-day breathes but in a majority of cases it goes unnoticed and unreported on account of innocence of the victim. Parents, teachers and others in the community have a vital role to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse. Children are the country’s greatest human resource and a measure of the country’s social progress lies in the wellbeing of children.” The reliable assessment of Child Sexual Abuse is very difficult as this is a mysterious type of abuse and causes the fatalities to grieve alone and in enclosed silence.
The end result of the abuse is very treacherous. It shatters the psyche of the child relating both mental and physical.
As a precautionary measure one must take steps such as: awareness among parents, teachers and other caretakers of the child; by recognising that boys are as much at risk as girls, creating a friendly atmosphere in schools and families through various means, children need the support of police, courts, and mental health professions. Thus, parents are the best source of treatment for their child to get over the physical and mental pain. Parents must always believe in their child that whatever they are saying is the real truth. There are many cases where the parents refused to take any action against the abuser as he or she may be a part of the family. This type of situation creates a feeling in the child that everybody is supporting the wrong person and it creates mental distortion in the child’s mind. It needs a lot of guts to speak the truth and it should be the duty of the parents to not ask any further questions for enquiry at that time.
(The author is a Student Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra)
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