Urging mental health professionals to understand the subtler nuances of child sexual abuse cases….

When I say victims, I mean all players in the case related to the victim also. The parent, the family, in cases of incest- the non offending parent and their psyche all deserve equal mention and emphasis to be tackled in a therapy setting.

They need and deserve to gather their wits around them and reconstruct their violated boundaries, gather confidence and their self sense of self worth before tackling the reins of normal life. The family and caretakers require equal help on how to talk and behave with the survivors so that there is every chance he/she gets a chance to thrive and get on with their lives. Or else the gains of a therapy session are lost once the child is home.

While child sexual abuse is a definite scourge of human race, and it is ARPAN dream to make the world a safe place from sexual abuse for children, the alarming rate of reporting in the media today talks of a diametrically opposite reality that is staring at us in the face.
Like creepy nightmares you shudder when you read everyday of “yet another case of incest…” in our “culturally rich and diverse” INDIA….
But ask therapists who have worked in closed clinics how many cases come to them and always have since years ago where adult survivors talk of violated childhoods.

This is not new and happened even in the old joint family setups where more efforts were made at hushing up the matter rather than dealing with it; and helping to reassure that child that it was not his/her fault but the fault of the adult. And then the child who still has to get on with life and while s/he limps back to normalcy with a scar on their soul because they think they have done something wrong!! A paradox where the victim gets re victimised!

The intervention from an understanding professional would take the child victim far and help them thrive instead of living their life in the shadows for no fault of theirs. The intervention needs to be clear yet subtle in a climate of understanding and empathy for the child where efforts are made to win the trust of the child and build a firm rapport so the child feels safe. This can happen only when the intervention is consistent and supportive. When adults who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse are in psychotherapy, they realize the quality of life they have compromised on for no fault of their own. There is rage then and appropriate anger which is dealt with, through specific techniques. The therapeutic environment needs to become a firm ground which the child/adult can rely upon to help them elevate to a state where they can thrive and reclaim their selves..

Vision vs reality: Having said all this, the stark reality also is to keep up with this long procedure against the odds of time. There are enough issues that need mental health intervention in today’s life and this causes a dearth of professionals who feel capable to deal with such cases which needs huge chunks of time especially when there are investigative procedures to deal with, if it is under litigation.

Arpan is an Ngo which works on the issue of child sexual abuse by spreading awareness through programs for stakeholders in a child’s life and healing services too. A pioneer effort has been made to develop training sessions for social workers and counselors to understand the theory of trauma and get equipped to deal with cases when they arise.

Treating offenders, if they are open and receptive to getting counseling is another aspect of prevention of sexual abuse. To acknowledge that the offender also needs counseling help besides punitive procedures is still a novel concept and takes courage and thorough knowledge of its nuances to accept it, but we at ARPAN, believe it is an important step that holds the key to checking many cases of abuse although admittedly it is a monumental task and re offending is not ruled out. However attempts have to be made to understand their psyche better which ARPAN aims to do as another key area of work.

Understanding it in totality with all its nuances and working at it, is an uphill task a small handful of us are still valiantly trying against many odds to make the world a safer place for children….. we know we will make a dent, albeit through small steps.

Pushpa Venkatraman
For: ARPAN

2nd March 2009

Hindustan Times
Will kids in the state ever get sex ed?
The CURRENT SCENARIO
March 2007 - State government bans sex education
Arpil 2008 – Education minister at that time, Vasant Purke, does an about turn, announces compulsory sex education in Class 9 and Class 11. Next day there is a furore in the assembly and it is decided to set up a committee to look into the matter
November 17, 2008 - Government resolution names 21 Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad members, including Purke and assembly opposition leader Ramdas Kadam as members of the committee. It also names 15 ‘experts’ which includes educationists and social workers from across the state.
Feb 10, 2009 – The only meeting so far of the committee is held in Pune, of the ‘experts’ group. Only 8 members turn up. The committee has sexologist, Dr Vithal Prabhu, paediatrician Dr.Sandhya Khadse, Professor Chhaya Bakare of Ruia College and several ‘sex educators’ attached to NGOs in Kolhpaur, Vardha, Latur and other places.

6th March, 2009

Hindustan Times
Crime against women on the rise in the city
The year that started with the molestation of two NRI women outside a five-star hotel in Juhu went on to witness a steep rise in crime against women. Annual crime statistics of the Mumbai police, obtained by HT, shows that more incidents of rape, especially involving minors, and molestation were registered in the city in 2008 as compared to previous years.

Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor, however, said that the rise in figures has more to do with women reporting crimes rather than a rise in crime rate.
CRIME 2007 2008
Rape (minors) 124 147
Rape (adults) 48 69
Molestation 356 427
Raids on brothels 134 158
Girls rescued 293 295

13.3.09

Hindustan Times
Sex sells at India’s popular pilgrim sites
India’s popular pilgrimage sites like Puri in Orissa and Tirupati in AP are major attractions for sex tourism, especially involving young boys A year long study conducted in three major pilgrim sites – Puri, Tirupati and Guruvayoor in Kerala has found that young boys from poor families are being trafficked to these religious places for sexual gratification of visitors. Lured by money, victims find it difficult to leave the profession. 13 boys in Puri revealed that they preferred foreigners to domestic ones, since they got chocolate, toys, good clothes, besides being paid from Rs.50 – Rs.200 per day.

20th March, 2009

Times of India
Rural Thane sees rise in incest cases
Mumbai: Cases of incest have been increasingly reported from rural Thane over the past few years. Officials attribute this to more women coming out to lodge complaints against family members.

In August 2006, the Nala Sopara police arrested Satish Chaurasia (35) for sexually abusing his daughter and subsequently getting her pregnant.
The same year, the Tarapur police arrested Nitin Raul (46) for raping his foster daughter. The 13-yearold victim became pregnant but the abuse continued.
“Incest exists even among educated and well-to-do families. Alcoholism and borderline personality disorder can lead to incest,’’ said psychiatrist Harish Shetty. “There are instances where women do not support their daughters (victims) and stand by their husbands (accused) instead. A rise in such offences is caused by alienation and loneliness.’’
In August 2008, the Virar police arrested Rajendra Yadav (29) for molesting his 12-year-old niece during a game of “hideand-seek”. The girl had been living with Yadav after her father died in the 7/11 blasts.

29th March, 2009
Times of India
Rural sisterhood forms rings of steel for victims of rape
No institution assures them justice, no organization fights for their rights and no counsellor helps them pick up the pieces of their lives. But the initial findings of a nationwide study reveal that rural victims of sexual abuse are beginning to fight back in their own way. Call it the sisterhood of India Invisible. Mobilizing village communities, picketing police stations and ridiculing attackers are some of the ways rural women are using to take on their assailants, says an 11-state study conducted from October 2007 to December 2008 by a Delhi-based NGO Swanchetan. It used data collected by state police forces and NGOs working with rural victims of sexual violence.
Some say the change is a reflection of the growing awareness of rural women, especially Dalits. “In Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharshtra, women say that they will not tolerate (injustice). They have their constitutional rights and will protest,” says Ruth Manorama, who campaigns for Dalit women in Bangalore.
Mitra says that women are empowered when they form a collective.

JAN 2009
7th Jan, 2009 - Times of India

More rapes registered, but conviction rate dismal
Mumbai: While a higher number of rape cases were registered in Mumbai in 2008, and a large number of those cases were solved, the conviction rate in court continues to be a dismal 20%. The number of rapes against women registered in Greater Mumbai rose from 45 in 2007 to 68 in 2008. A whopping 61 of the 2008 cases were solved, but police sources said this was little reason for cheer. The biggest reason is that the victims don’t want to go through the trauma of a court hearing.
“While some feel guilty about being raped and prefer to isolate themselves from public view, others don’t want to face the embarassing queries of the defence counsel during the cross-questioning. For some, it’s a combination of both,’’ a Mumbai police officer said. “Also, some of the victims get married at a later stage and do not want to pursue the case.’’

The total number of rapes registered—including rapes of minors— was 212. Startlingly, rapes of minors rose from 125 in 2007 to 144 in 2008.
“Cases of rape, dowry harassment and molestation are accorded priority,’’ said an officer from the crime branch. In fact, there are counsellors working with the Mumbai police .When all options fail, they assist the victim legally and most of this is free of cost.

8th Jan, 2009 - Hindustan Times

Paedophilia case: State to crack down on unregistered homes
The state government is planning a crackdown on unregistered children’s shelters after a warden was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing children at an unauthorised hostel he had been running in Aurangabad. The arrest of Jaisingh Michael (45) for sexual offences, including rape of children at the missionary-run hostel, has sparked outrage.
Vijay Satbir Singh, secretary to the Ministry of Women and Child Development in Maharashtra, said it was the second-highest-profile case of sexual abuse being alleged at an unauthorised institution in the state. The first, he said, was the Anchorage shelters in Mumbai set up by Briton Duncan Grant (64) to rehabilitate street children in 1995.
“My officers have told me it was never registered with us,” said Singh. “The Aurangabad shelter was not registered either. Both were running for some time before they came to our notice, so there could well be other similar cases out there.” The campaign to root out unathorised shelters will start this month, using local police intelligence and help from the public, he said.
About 108 homeless, poor or orphaned children had been staying at the Aurangabad hostel. “There were four complaints of rape, one of molestation against girls and three complaints of sexual harassment of boys,” said Singh. The home has now been shut and 16 of the children handed back to their parents. The other 44 girls and 48 boys have been rehabilitated in other shelters and offered counselling, Singh added.

Thursday, 15th Jan, 2009

Times of India - Students may get sex abuse cover / NCW Prods Centre As Research Scholars & Teachers Flood It With Complaints
DNA – Lewd remarks on campus will be crime
New Delhi: Faced with sexual harassment complaints from research scholars and university teachers, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has proposed that educational institutions be recognised as ‘workplace’ and brought under the ambit of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill.
The bill is currently with the women and child development ministry. The proposed legislation is expected to provide redressal for women plagued by sexual harassment not just in government and organised private sector companies but industries that have so far managed to stay out of the loop like hospitality industry including catering services, restaurants, professions like NGOs, health services and coaching centres, domestic helps, women working in tailoring, or beauty parlours.
The penalty, if harassment is proved, will be levied keeping in view the victim’s mental suffering and trauma, income and financial status of the woman, medical expenses incurred by the victim and loss in career opportunity because of the incident. The bill also prohibits publication or making contents of the inquiry or the aggrieved woman’s details available.

DNA
Adopted, Assaulted and Deported (Global trade in babies)
Nearly 20 years after she was adopted by an American national, 27 year old Jennifer Haynes is back in Mumbai, seeking action against the Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA), the agency that had processed her adoption papers. She has said in her petition that under the guise of adoption, various voluntary agencies and social organizations are trafficking children to western countries and most end up being sexually abused at the foster homes.

Times of India dt.19th Dec, 2008
Law changes to aid rape victims
RS Nod to CrPC Bill Amendments To Ease Sexually Abused Victims’ Agony

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved much awaited amendments in the Code of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), providing for a number of path-breaking measures in the existing law to lessen the agony of rape victims.

Completion of trial of rape cases within a period of two months from the date of commencement of the examination of witnesses, hearing of the cases by woman judges (as far as practicable) and questioning of rape victims in the presence of her parents or a social worker of the locality are some of the provisions of the CrPC (Amendment) Bill.

The Bill was passed by voice vote along with certain minor amendments pressed by CPM member Brinda Karat.

It also has povisions of commuting of capital punishment of a pregnant convict to life imprisonment, victim’s rights to appeal against acquittal, beginning of a “victim compensation scheme” (to compensate the victim or his dependents who have suffered loss or injury as a result of crime in any part of the country), audio-video recording of statement of witnesses and trial of cases through video-conferencing. Winding up the discussion before the Bill was passed, home minister P Chidambaram said: “The effort is to make the Bill more humane to law-abiding citizens and more difficult for those who try to violate the law.” The Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha in August 2006 and subsequently referred to the Standing Committee of the Parliament. Chidambaram said that the Bill was brought to the House after giving due consideration to the recommendations of the Standing Committee.

As far as bringing changes in the law concerning rape victims is concerned, the Bill also provides for investigation of a case at the residence of the victim and as far as practicable by a woman police officer. These provisions will spare the victim of the agony of visiting the police station and answering inconvenient questions in front of unidentified persons. Certain changes have also been approved for the speedy disposal of such cases without leaving scope for postponement or adjournment of proceedings. The amendment provides that the trial, as far as possible, will be completed “within a period of two months” from the date of commencement of the examination of witnesses. Once the Bill is passed by the Lok Sabha, the new legislation will provide for asking all the states to initiate a “victim compensation package” in coordination with the central government with a corpus of a fixed amount. The amendment also has provision of right to appeal for victims. Currently, the right to appeal lies with the state which directly fights the case with the accused. Under the proposed change, the victim can independently hire a lawyer and go in for an appeal in addition to what the state does.

DNA / Hindustan Times
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Every hour, 2 women raped in India : Report
CHILLING STATISTICS
Rape cases reported last year / 20,737
Cases registered in M.P alone, making it the rape capital / 3010
Cases in W.B / 2106
Cases in U.P / 1648
Cases in Bihar / 1555
Cases in Rajasthan / 1238
Cases in Delhi / 598
Sexual harassment cases registered in A.P, the highest for a state / 3316
Cases in which family members were involved / 405


DNA
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Grant, Waters are back with new Anchorage
British nationals ,Duncan Grant and Allan Waters, who were acquitted in a paedophilia case in July, are now running a hostel for “young working men” in Cuffe Parade. And like the shelter the duo previously used to run for street children, this too is called Anchorage.

Located in a slum opposite the Badhwar Park Railway Colony, the hostel comprises a small room (about 800 sq ft) with a mezzanine floor. There are 24 inmates, all aged between 18 and 25.
“Most of these youths had once lived in the Anchorage Shelter Home, Colaba, which has now shut down completely. The Cuffe Parade shelter was started in 1997. We have refurbished it after being acquitted in the case. This hostel has always housed older boys, while the younger ones stayed in the Colaba shelter,” Grant, 65, told DNA.

The appeal challenging the acquittal of both Grant and Waters by Bombay High Court is pending in the Supreme Court. The HC acquitted the duo on July 23, disbelieving the same set of evidence, which, in 2006, had led a sessions court to convict the Britons of sexually abusing young boys at the Colaba shelter.Grant has already sold the Colaba Anchorage for Rs50 lakh.

When asked where they got the funds from, Grant said that UK-based charitable institutions, like Rotary International and Siroptimists, had donated for the cause

Hindustan Times / DNA
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
India registers third most rape cases in the world
Ahead of India (with 18359 rape cases during the first quarter of this year , are the US and South Africa with 93394 and 54926 cases respectively. Least were in countries like Jordan, Latvia, Bulgaria and Finland.Germany, Thailand, Sweden and Argentina too registered a high humber of rape cases.

Hindustan Times
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Faith silences abuse victims
Strong religious beliefs make sex victims a helpless pawn in the hands of their abuser. eg. a child, sodomised by her father, felt she had to forgive him or burn in hell. The common thread is that religion is an important resilience factor in abused children. Jean - Guy Nadon, professor of theology and religious sciences at the Universite de Montreal, says, " A child's God can be kidnapped and exploited by an adult, often by the very adult who taught the child about God in the first place."

Arpan's office opening

Arpan office! : ' )

Pujya Bhaishri being greeted by Pushpa Venkatraman (Arpan's Trainer - Counselor) and Anita Kumar (Arpan's Admin. Asst.)

The samai is lighted by Pujya Bhaishri, Pooja Taparia's (Arpan's Founder - CEO) relatives, parents and Pushpa and Anita.

Pooja showing Pujya Bhaishri photos of Arpan's activities.

Pujya Bhaishri perfoming the puja

Pujya Bhaishri giving his blessings

Pujya Bhaishri seeing our articles published in the media

Pujya Bhaishri with Arpan Team - left to right (Pooja, Pujya Bhaishri, Harshal (Arpan volunteer), Anita, Pushpa and Natasha Agrawal (Arpan's Executive Asst.)

Pooja addressing all

Pujya Bhaishri addressing all of us

Pujya Bhaishri giving out prasad to all, Arpan team members, Famycare Ltd. staff, etc.



Pujya Bhaishri blessing Pushpa, Anita and myself

Saturday, 18th Oct, 2008
Times of India
Terrorists use child porn to stay in touch
Embed coded messages in sex abuse images
London: Paedophilia and terrorism seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. But a string of police raids across Britain and Europe has established the unlikely link between terror plots and hardcore child pornography.
§ Messages may be concealed within digital images and audio, video or other files, via a method called steganography, or ‘covered writing’.
§ The first link between child sex abuse and jihadists emerged in London in 2006 when antiterrorism police found images of hardcore child porn in two investigations.
§ Scotland Yard’s antiterrorism branch found over 40000 child porn images in one case and fewer than a dozen in another.
§ Experts say that the advancement in encryption technology is outpacing the authorities’ abilities to monitor suspected terrorists and paedophiles.

Monday, 11th Aug, 2008
Hindustan Times
A helpline to the rescue of abused children

Ten-year-old Mariam called NGO Childline’s Shillong branch and lodged a complaint saying her 35-year-old neighbour had sexually abused her. The neighbour had threatened he would kill her father if she told him. Mariam told her friends who asked her to call the helpline.

At the Childline Foundation-Mumbai, in 2006-7, there were 1,337 calls for help to 1098 — India’s first 24X7 distress outreach service that also caters to marginalised sections – with 571 calls for missing children, 434 for shelter, 535 for emotional support and 277 for protection from abuse.

The maximum calls were for physical abuse (86 per cent), as compared to sexual abuse cases (6 per cent), and an equal number of financial abuse cases (5 per cent) between 2005-6 and 2006-7. The NGO received more than 7.5 lakh silent calls – calls where the caller chose not to speak. The data also indicate 30 per cent of calls were made by children either for themselves or to refer a friend.

Why are these children not speaking about their problems to their families?
The answer to that may be that ‘family’ is itself a luxury for the marginalised. For them, it’s not a reliable support base. Kajol Menon, executive director, Childline India Foundation, says: “The Childline calls tell us that child protection needs to be backed by on-the-ground infrastructure covering healthcare support systems, shelters, child-friendly police stations and judicial procedures. Helplines find it easier to draw children out as the anonymity helps them speak freely”.

Monday, 11th Aug, 2008
Times of India
NEW DELHI: STATISTICS
 Over 12% victims of sexual assault did not share their trauma with anybody for 10 yearsor more, reveals a Delhi NGO study from 2000 to 2008.
 Almost 65% women had different symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder even 6 months after the assault
 The same percentage said they had suicidal thoughts intermittently for two years
 NCRB statistics show that between 1953 and 2006, incidents of rape grew by 678%. Every 27 mins a woman is raped making it the fastest growing crime in India.

Horrifying child abuse statistics

SUNDAY JAN 7, 2007
Hindustan times :
350 odd victims of child abuse lodged at the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi

TUESDAY, JAN 9, 2007
DNA Study by NGO , Rahi - About 50% of child abuse victims are under 12 years of age

4000 city children have vanished in 5 years :
Statistics recorded by the Mumbai police reveal a disquieting rise in the number of children who go missing every year. Figures are grim :
Year / Reported missing / Untraced till date ( Rising figures)
2006 / 3836 / 948
2005 / 3709 / 686
2004 / 3533 / 673
2003 / 3587 / 715
2002 / 3477 / 670

Mumbai’s Street Fighters
More and more children on the city’s streets continue to fight that war for survival even as government sits on a policy.
20000-2.5 lakh street children in Mumbai
18 lakh street children in India
68 NGOs for street children in Mumbai

Vipul Kadri, founder and national director of Save the Child India says’ “ Mumbai is the major centre for child trafficking There are no protection or rehabilitation plans for rescuing children from the flesh trade and law enforcing agencies are not seriously pursuing cases of child abuse.”

CRIME AND THE CITYSource: Mumbai Police - Times of India, Jan 14, 2007

2006 Registered / Detected
Rape of minor girls 93 / 89
Rape of women 46 / 42
Outraging modesty 288 / 249
Intended insult to modesty 88 / 70
Dowry related murders 12 / 10
Dowry related suicides 40 / 34
Dowry related physical/mental harassment : 247 / 203

Wednesday, Jan 17, 2007
Punjab renews hunt for 400 missing kids- More than 300 children were reported missing in 2005. In 2006, the number shot up to 490. Similarly in M.P, around 611 children went missing from 7 towns in 2006 - 282 from Bhopal
129 from Indore
108 from Ujjain
33 from Dhar
28 from Khandwa
16 from Mandsor
and 15 from Khargone

Times of India:
CHILDREN AT RISK
Crime stats of the National Crime Records Bureau show chilling figures:
Child rapes went up by a whopping 13.7% in 2005, while crimes against children went up by 3.8%
According to a survey conducted by Save the Children:
68% had faced physical abuse
46.6% faced severe abuse leading to injuries
32.2% had their private parts touched by the abuser
20% forced to have sexual intercourse
50% do not get any leave, 37% never see their families
32% had no idea where their daughters were working, 27% knew they were getting abused
78% received less than Rs.500 per month

Tuesday, Feb 6, 2007
Times of India
Exposure to online porn on the rise among US teens: Statistics show that :
Most kids who reported unwanted exposure were aged 13 to 17 ( 17% boys and 16% girls)
Among those who intentionally visited X rated sites there were more than 1/3rd of 16 and 17 year old boys and 8% of girls

Crime on the tracks
Year 2006
Cases - Outraging modesty / Detected
12 / 10

Friday, Feb 9, 2007
Mumbai Mirror
712 children still missing in UP
Lucknow: As many as 3641 children went missing in 2006, police have recovered the bodies of 83 so far. The complaints were all of children under 18 years of age. Statistics show the following figures:
Meerut – 848 missing children
Kanpur – 806
Lucknow – 767
Varanasi – 510 : Of these, 2751 were boys and 898 girls, mostly in the 10 -18 yrs
Bareilly – 285 : age group, 488 in the 5-10 years and 145 under 5 years of age
Gorakhpur – 282
Allahabad -143

Monday, Feb 19, 2007
Times of India
In 2 years, 4500 kids missing in Bangalore : Officials fear another Nithari as State capital has highest cases throughout Karnataka.
2005 3264 missing out of this – 2208 from Bangalore
2006 3631 missing out of this – 2316 from Bangalore

Tuesday, Feb 27, 2007
Missing in Bengal:About 60 percent of the minors who went missing in the country last year were from West Bengal, the Centre said on Monday.
3916 cases Missing persons below 18 years
2529 cases from Bengal, followed by Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Assam
94 cases from UP

Saturday, March 10, 2007
EVERY SECOND CHILD IN INDIA IS ABUSED:
A study conducted by Prayaas with support from Unicef and the Department of Women and Child Development, has found that over 50% of the children interviewed reported some form of physical, sexual or economic abuse. Out of these 25% respondents were sexually abused, and 30% of them by family members or relatives. The study covered 13 states – Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, U.P, Kerala , Goa and M.P – up to Dec 2006. The Department of WACD will be asking the Planning Commission for Rs.2000 crore in the 11th Plan (as against Rs.215 crore in the last plan ) for various child protection schemes.
25% : subjected to sexual abuse
71% : beaten, with 29% requiring medical attention and 56% bleeding from the assault
80% : faced emotional abuse

DNA
MUMBAI’S MINOR ABERRATION
Employing minors in prostitution is a billion dollar industry and the victims are often as young as 8 years. In recent years, Mumbai has emerged as one of the leading markets for trafficked minors who engage in prostitution/commercial sexual abuse of a minor, and thriving due to the increased sex tourism in Mumbai, Goa and surrounding coastal areas. Demand for younger, pre-puberty girls has hit an all time high and even those as young as 7 and 8 year old are forced to work in red-light areas as ‘professional call girls’. Statistics shown below reflect the horrors of the trade.

FOR SALE
FAIR MINOR Between 1-1.5 lakh per night
DUSKY MINOR Between 75,000 to 1.25 lakh per night

AGE PROFILE
1998 Girls as young as 18 years
2000 15 years
2003 12 years
Today 8 years

Client list : Affluent businessmen, members of the film and advertising fraternity, diamond merchants and politicians
Yearly rise : Almost 30%

Thursday, March 22, 2007
Times of India
British Asians feel reporting child abuse affects ‘honor’
London: Over ⅔ of British Asians think that reporting child abuse would have a negative affect on the honor of the child’s family, according to a survey. The NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) questioned over 500 Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis – The result :
§ Sexual abuse was rated highest as demeaning to family honor, followed by physical abuse and emotional abuse
§ 37% of the sample had suspected a child was being abused and half of them knew the child personally

Saturday, March 24, 2007
DNA
In ‘safe’ Mumbai, women remain on edge / City hurts women on streets, in home
Mumbai supposed to be one of the safest cities in India, is fast showing signs of increasing crime rates, especially against women. All too often, the crime starts before a girl is born, as is all too evident in the rising cases of female foeticide. If statistics don’t lie, abuse of minors is on the rise
In 2001 - 97 minors were raped in the city
In 2006 - numbers swelled to 112
In 2007 - 27 cases of rape of minors have been recorded in the first two months of 2007
In fact, rape of minors has outnumbered rape of elderly women

GRIM NUMBERS / 2001 / 2006
Rape (Minors) / 97 / 112
Rape (Women) / 30 / 51
Outraging modesty / 257 / 355
Dowry related murders/suicides / 50 / 62
Mental and physical harassment / 121 / 310
Harassment other than dowry / 37 / 2
Misappropriation of streedhan / 43 / 54

§ 42% who suspected child abuse did nothing about their concerns.
§ Fewer than 4% reported the abuse, only 3% reported to social services, majority dealt with the issue themselves.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
DELHI’S SHAME
Year 2005 / 2006 Total rapes in Delhi
660 / 599
Minor victims ( 73 % ) / 481 / 437
Victims under 12 (14%) / 93 / 84

Monday, March 19, 2007
Hindustan Times
Sex education from next academic year
Going beyond the birds and bees
§ Aids awareness – 35% of reported AIDS cases in India occurs in people below he age of 29
§ 73% of children who participated in a NACO/UNICEF study in 2002 had misconceptions on transmission of HIV/AIDS
§ 2 out of 3 children/women in the 15-24 age group in Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and U.P have never heard about AIDS

Sunday, March 25, 2007
Hindustan Times
Birds, bees and shoeflowers
Why sex education cannot wait –§ A recent survey of 17000 children and young adults conducted in 13 states showed that over 25% have suffered sexual abuse of some kind.
§ Girls are maturing sooner and hitting puberty at 10-11 years in urban areas
§ School children are indulging in sexual behaviour at an increasingly early age
§ With increasing media exposure and internet providing easy access to pornography, students need to be educated early
§ An estimated 5.2 million Indians are infected by HIV

Sunday, April 1, 2007
H L Kaila’s book,
Victimisation of School Children highlights the need for sex education in the classroom.
A survey from the book shows that:
§ 3.2% of 325 students were forced to have sex with another student.
§ 1% were forced into the act by teachers.
§ Over 4% had been strip-searched in school.
§ Survey of 60 cyber cafes between Borivli and Andheri found 90% watching porn, of whom 60% were minors. Parents were in the dark about their children.

Monday, April 2, 2007
RAPE STATISTICS
Every 29 minutes a woman is raped in India
Every 24 hours, a woman is raped in Delhi
70% of rape cases get reported
4 to 12% is the rape conviction rate


Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Times of India - 53% Indian kids sexually abused - Parents, Kin Perpetrators of the Crime: Survey

DNA – Half India’s kids are abused
Hindustan times – Capital shame / Delhi worst abuser of kids
Statistics
§ More than 53% children report facing one or more forms of sexual abuse
§ Almost 22% faced severe sexual abuse, 6% said they were sexually assaulted
§ 50% of sexual offenders were known to the victim or were in positions of trust
§ 5-12 years group faced higher levels of abuse, largely unreported
§ 99% cases were of physical abuse, with 89% from parents
§ 65% underwent corporal punishment in schools
§ every second girl child reported facing emotional abuse, mostly from parents
§ 48% girls wished they were boys
§ Maximum levels of abuse reported from Delhi, A.P, Bihar and Assam
§ Boys face more physical abuse – 72.61% compared to 65% of girls


Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Hindustan Times
The percentage who said “yes” to formal sex education in HT horizons survey
STUDENTS (%) /PARENTS AND TEACHERS(%) § Do you feel sex education should be made
compulsory in school? 82 /78
§ Do you feel awkward discussing sex related queries from students/children :Yes – 80%
§ How are your sex related queries answered?
Internet -28
Peers- 39
Parents- 6
Books -12
Magazines -13
Newspapers -1
Television -1
§ What according to you is the right age for sex education?
8-12 years :41 %
13-16 years :47 %
17-21 years :12 %
§ Do you have sex education in school
Yes :52%
§ Did it help (for those who had)
Yes: 67
§ Would you have wanted an informed teacher telling you about sex?
Yes: 68

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
THE GREAT GLOBAL TIDE OF CHILD PORN
400 PERCENT rise since 2003 in abusive pictures of children below 12, sold online by organized criminal groups.
The rising graph → 31,776 reports in 2006 of illegal images, up from 24000 in 2005
3000 number of websites on which illegal images were hosted
29% of images have most disturbing pictures, up from 7% in 2003

Sunday, April 22, 2007
BOYS DON’T CRY
One out of every two boys is sexually abused, says a recent govt. study.
§ Vulnerable spots are schools, where the abuser is often a child himself, and the most common breeding grounds for this is the boys’ toilet.
§ “ Boys and girls react very differently to sexual abuse. Boys get very scared. They think it’s something that happens only to girls and start believing that something’s wrong with their bodies.They become very secretive.”
§ The age of maximum abuse is between 9 and 12 years, just before the onset of puberty, says Dr. Rajan Mitra, Director of Delhi-based NGO Swanchetan. Abuse gained momentum at the age of ten and peaked between 12 to 15 years of age.
§ Any delay in the development of secondary sexual characteristics, like the breaking of the voice or growth of moustache could end up in such a child being specially targeted for looking and sounding effeminate.
§ While abused girls may display self-destructive behaviour, boys who are abused could become violent, or take to drugs, cigarettes or alcohol to prove that they are more of men.

Saturday, April 27, 2007
Hindustan Times
38.5% of children surveyed said their friends or classmates often touched or fondled their private parts.
24% said they were touched in that manner by their uncles or relatives
26.8% young adults recalled having sexual experience
THE SHOCKER : Majority of them said the sexual experience with friends or classmates were not necessarily abuse in nature, thus making it a consensual activity.
THE BIGGEST DEBATE :
A child may be forced to say it was consensual sex

Wednesday, May 2, 2007
DNA
Missing minor cases climb by 50% in two years
The number of Mumbai’s missing minors has consistently crossed the 100 barrier over the last 3 years.
Till 2003
Of the nearly 100 persons reported missing annually, minors constituted 60 to 70% of complaints registered.
In 2005
155 people including 93 minor girls and 29 minor boys were reported missing. Of these, 3 boys and 2 girls are still untraceable
In 2006
150 people were reported missing including 22 boys and 96 girls below the age of 18 years. Of the minors 4 boys and 30 girls are yet to be traced.

Sunday, May 13, 2007
Hindustan Times
CHILLING NUMBERS
HIV CASES: 2003 /2004 /2005/ 2006
Tested positive :29% /28% /32% /46%
8000+ HIV positive cases in Sangli – 2005-06
1000+ HIV positive orphans
165 orphans on regular treatment at the civic hospital

Thursday, May 17, 2007
DNA
Young get serious about casual sex – Promiscuity is just as common with rural youngsters:
The BSS (Behavioural Surveillance Survey) 2006 conducted on 40,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24 found that :
§ 1.5 crore (8.4%) youngsters are snuggling up for pre and post-marital sex
§ More than 15% of successful pregnancies in India are reported by teenagers
§ BUT awareness of HIV/AIDS has increased to 85.5%

Monday, May 21, 2007
Hindustan Times – Lost innocence
Times of India – Child abuse at Great Indian wedding
Marriages in India are occasions during which children are prone to sexual abuse, a central government –sponsored survey has found.

11.32% children reported having encountered sexual advances during a marriage
53.65% among them are girls
83% children either kept quiet or ignored the abuser
Most victims are 5 – 12 years old

Statewise % of girl victims % of boy victims
M.P 89.36%
Maharashtra 81.40%
Gujarat 78.79%
Delhi 75.14%
Rajasthan 64.41%

Other states were A.P, West Bengal, Kerala and Bihar. 12447 children in 13 states were covered in the survey.

Sunday, June 17 , 2007
DNA
It isn’t child’s play
Mahabalipuram orphanages are hotbeds of paedophilia. They arrange special rooms within the orphanages for foreigners willing to make ‘donations’.

Where does it begin?
§ The UN says most of trafficking victims originate in Asia, the CIS, Africa and Eastern Europe.
§ Their primary destination are all the developed nations
§ In descending order, the most prominent destination countries are Italy, the United States, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Greece, Turkey and Thailand
§ According to the world body, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked every year
§ Of 1.2 million, almost 1 million are sexually exploited in the multi-billion dollar sex industry

1. Interpol says Goa is a ‘paedophile’s paradise
2. More than 100,000 websites publish child pornography
3. Cops go ‘soft’ on suspects in order to maintain the tourism-friendly image of Goa.

Goa’s hall of shame
§ Alan Dow case
§ John Middleton case
§ Dominique Sabire case
§ Helmut Brinkmann case
§ Ernie Jean Francois case
§ Kenneth John Clark case


Monday, July 30 , 2007
Hindustan Times
Sex education, ok please / 7 out of 10 parents in metros give idea a big thumbs up
Survey conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai and Bangalore between July23rd and 27, 2007.
93 % supporters of sex education want it in secondary schools either for all teenagers or for
all students
72% believe most schoolchildren know very little/can’t separate myth from reality
68% think some form of sex education is necessary
7% want sex education inprimary schools
20% say no to sex education in schools

Tuesday,Sept 11th, 2007
DNA
State only next to M.P in crime
Crimes in Maharashtra – 2006 statistics relating to rape/sexual abuse
§ 1 rape case every 6 hours
§ 1 molestation case every 3 hours
§ 2 crimes against women every hour
§ 1 crime committed against children every 4 hours
§ An increase by 2.61% during 2006, as compared to 2005 in rape cases wherein the victims are in the age group 14 to 18

Mah has earned the dubious distinction of being second in having the maximum number of criminal cases in the country after M.P. While crime is on the upswing, the rate of conviction is lowest in the country.

Wednesday,Sept 12th, 2007
Times of India
50% lose virginity during college
Findings of a poll done among youth aged 15 to 19 show how important virginity fares in the minds of today’s young. 10% of teenaged girls and 20% of teenaged boys are not virgins and do not regret the fact Other findings :
§ About 75% of girls felt that an intact hymen was an irrevelant concept
§ About half were of the view that if a girl is raped , she should not be considered to have lost her virginity.
§ A third of the boys agreed that talk about the hymen was outdated
§ Two thirds of also refused to accept that rape victims should be treated as virgins

Thursday, Oct 4, 2007
Hindustan Times
Lust for minors growing in India, says survey
Unlike rest of the world, the lust of men in South Asia, especially India, is growing for younger women, said Gary Lewis, South Asia head of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Wednesday. In 1980s, women between 14-16 were preferred, then the age in 1990s went down to 10-14 and now it is even less than 10 years. “I have come across cases where even five year-old girls have been trafficked for sexual exploitation,” Lewis told HT but added that such cases are not very rampant.
Desire for younger women is not the prime reason. The growing fear of catching sexually transmitted diseases from older women and belief that having sex with younger women is a cure for many diseases had caused this increase in demand.

“Such had been trauma that couple of girls have lost their speaking power,” Lewis recalled, claiming that there are thousands of such girls all over India.

Monday, Oct 22, 2007
Hindustan Times
Child’s environment
Home to the second –largest child population globally, India is the world’s 6th most dangerous place for children. They also constitute 40% of human trafficking victims.

At home or at school, children remain equally vulnerable – A study by Shakti Vahini, an NGO working on anti-trafficking issues, found that 378 of India’s 600 districts are affected by human trafficking. India is a major source and destination for trafficked children and by conservative estimates, there are about 3 to 5 lakh girl children in commercial sex and organized prostitution.

The National Human Rights Commission estimates that around 45,000 children go missing every year and most of them end up in prostitution , begging, etc. 54% children have faced one or more forms of sexual abuse with states like A.P, Bihar , Assam and Delhi being the frontrunners in child abuse cases. Childen in the age group 5 to 12 reported higher levels of abuse and boys were as much at risk as girls.

Paedophilia : SE Asia’s unabating sordid saga
Hong Kong: The arrest in Thailand of Canadian paedophile Christopher Paul Neil, 32 was the culmination of an unprecedented appeal from Interpol for public help in finding hi. Neil is accused of sexually assaulting 12 boys and posting 200 pictures of the crime on the internet. His case is the latest to draw attention to the fact that:
§ Children are readily available in SE Asia for sexual predators who travel from the West for the sole purpose of having sex with minors.
§ Campaign groups say that much of the demand for child sex is homegrown and accuse authorities of often turning a blind eye, or even colluding in the abuse
§ Lace of public awareness
§ Lack of data
§ Lack of harsh punishments, which could act as a deterrent

DNAAdolescent boys, not girls , are bigger victims of forced sex
Ugly stats
§ 15% of boys and 3% of girls report non-consensual physical relationships
§ In the case of boys, 72% said the perpetrators were female friends
§ In the case of girls, 60 % said that the aggressors were neighbours.
§ When it came to unwelcome touch, the most common perpetrators for girls were strangers, and with boys , female friends, age unknown.

Samir parekh, consultant psychiatrist at Max Healthcare, New Delhi said that boys were less likely to report , because it sounded culturally inappropriate to say they were forced into it by a female friend of the same age.

§ Results from a cross – sectional school-based survey of 811 high school students (average age : 16 years) in Goa found that 1/3 had forced sex . The study also found a constellation of risky behaviour and poor mental and physical health outcomes associated with sexual abuse.
§ Bangalore street boys said they were both perpetrators and victims of coerced sex.

WHO estimates – globally
§ 150 million girls and 73 million boys below the age of 18 were victims of sexual abuse in 2002
§ Fathers and male relatives were most common perpetrators, followed by peers, caregivers, teachers, religious leaders, family friends and neighbours.
§ Boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 13 years are at greatest risk.

Other effects of sexual abuse were reported as:
1. Adolescent pregnancy
2. HIV infections
3. Gynaecological and reproductive problems
4. Chronic pelvic pain
5. Premenstrual distress
6. Inadequate or excessive prenatal weight gain
7. Emotional problems such as depression, anxiety, sexualized behaviour and substance abuse.

Thursday, Nov 1, 2007
Times of India
Delhi teens have multiple sex partners
A survey conducted by the department of community medicine at University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) at 2 colleges and three schools in south Delhi has come up with startling findings – one in 10 teenagers from affluent south Delhi families said they had lost their virginity. Some of the findings were:
10% students admitted having sexual intercourse
Among them 25% boys had sex before the age of 13
57% had multiple partners (75% of them never used condoms)
30% had consumed alcohol or drugs before sex
Most sexually active students belonged to nuclear families where one or more family members were heavily into smoking or drinking


Saturday, Nov 17, 2007
Times of India
Mumbai : Over 60% of college girls face sexual harassment


Monday, Nov 19, 2007
Kids at risk as families change shape
Abuse threat higher for American children living in homes without both biological parents –
Statistics:
Children living in households with unrelated adults are nearly 50 times as likely to die of inflicted injuries as those living with two biological parents
Children living in stepfamilies or with single parents are at higher risk of physical or sexual assault than chidren living with two biological or adoptive parents
Girls whose parents divorce are at significantly higher risk of sexual assault.
Scholars and caseworkers involved in cases of child abuse are also worried by the trend in US households of the abusive boyfriend syndrome – the alleged or convicted perpetrator being the boyfriend of the child’s mother.


SOME USEFUL STATISTICS
Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007
Hindustan Times
MINOR HOMES, MAJOR CRISIS
Horror stories of children abused in government-run remand homes and shelters, and their poor living conditions, abound.

Social activists working with children's homes are irked with the state's apathy in improving their condition. Advocate and human rights activist P. Sebastian who works for the welfare of children says "No one is really interested in improving things; who will take care of these children?"
Besides living conditions, child right activists say children are exploited physically and sexually. "Sexual abuse in some of these homes is rampant," said activist Asim Sarode.

Maharashtra has 56 observation homes (14 run by the state and 42 by NGOs), 148 children homes (32 government-run and 116 run by NGOs), 4 special homes (3 state run and 1 by an NGO). The state has 37 child welfare committees. Besides, city advisory boards have been set up for monitoring (Information from Ministry of Women and Child Development website)


Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
Crime and the city
STATISTICS (Plateauing off )
2003 /2004 /2005 /2006 /2007(till Nov)
RAPE :133 /186 /198 /163/ 160

Thursday, Dec 20, 2007
DNA
STATISTICS
28,258 number of people viewing pornography on the internet, every sec, worldwide
1500% percentage increase in the number of internet child pornography images since 1988
80% percentage of online predators who were explicit about their intentions with youth
$97.06 billion worldwide pornography revenue in 2006. Approx $13 billion was in the US
4.2 million number of pornographic websites on the web.


Thursday, Dec 27, 2007
DNA
Sex education curbs sexual appetite : study
Despite all the brouhaha about sex education in schools, the fact that formal sex education among teenagers effectively reduces sexual risk behaviours has more scientific validation now. It is important that sex education is provided before the child’s sexual initiation, says a research published in the latest issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, after a study based on America’s 2019 unmarried teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 years.
§ Sex education was found to be especially more important for those subgroups that are traditionally at high risk of early sex initiation.
§ 59% girls and 71% boys were less likely to start have sex before age 15 if they had received sex education
§ School going boys were 3 times more likely to use birth control the first time they had sexual intercourse.
§ Boys living in single-parent households were more likely to delay sex .

These findings may also have bearings on Indian conditions too, since teenage sex is fast emerging as a trend in India too.

Saturday, Jan 5, 2008
Times of India
Maha worst in sex abuse convictions
Maharashtra tops list of states lenient in terms of punishing those who commit crimes against women.
Molestation
Karnataka 6.2
Gujarat 6.9
W.Bengal 11.0
J&K 11.2
Maharashtra 11.5
All – India 30.7

Sunday, Jan 6, 2008
Times of India
Rise in rapes tops all crimes, up 678% / ‘Cops, courts don’t protect women
The NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) records have come as a shocker. Though overall figures of violent crimes under the Indian Penal Code have declined, there is a 678% increase in the number of rapes. The NCBR data also points to the profile of the average rapist – over 75% were known to the victims. Nearly 10% were relatives. About a quarter of the rape victims were minors.

Monday, Jan 14, 2008
Hindustan Times
A rape every 30 min
Every hour in India, 18 women become victims of crime. Number of rapes has increased nearly 700% since 1971. Delhi tops the list, followed by Hyderabad. Among the states, A.P tops with U.P and M.P following. J & k , with 2509 rapes and 950 molestations in a year, has also become one the most unsafe states in the country.

Rape Statistics
A.P Registered cases 21484 (13% of the total incidents in 2006)
U.P 9% of the total cases
M.P Highest number 2900 rape cases
Across the country 19,348 rape cases in 2006
Girls below 15 years 1593 (8.2% of the total cases)
Teenaged girls 3364 ( 17.4% )
Age group (18-30 years) 11,312 cases
Rise in rape 5.4% rise in 2006 over 2005
Offenders known to victims 75.1% of the cases

Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008
DNA
It’s time we protected our children
STATISTICS (US)
9.6% Students, according to US dept of education, who are targets of educator sexual
misconduct, sometime during their school career
90% Rapes of children under the age of 12, where the victim knew the perpetrator of
the crime
37% Women in prison in US who have been sexually abused as children
33% Abused children who will grow up to abuse their own children
80% Abused children who will manifest at least one psychiatrist disorder before age 21
3m number of reports of child abuse made in the US , every year
3 number of times abused teens are less likely to have safe sex

Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008
DNA
Neighbours are culprits in half the rapes in Surat -Out of 45 rape & attempt to rape cases lodged in the last one year, neighbours were found involved in 23
SURAT: Figures collected from different police stations in the city by DNA show that neighbours were involved in 23 out of the 45 rape or rape attempt cases registered in the city in 2007. In 18 of these cases, the victims were girls aged between three and 15.
Neighbours were followed by other close acquaintances such as friends, who were involved in six cases of the heinous crime. In three cases, rickshaw drivers were found to be involved, while the crime was committed in one case each by a tenant and a landlord. Lover and to-be husband were found involved in two rape cases, while the father of a victim was the guilty in one case.

Sunday, 9th March, 2008
DNA
A new casualness about sex on the Indian campus
Mumbai : A new survey conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), a UN-based body, confirms that youngsters in India are getting more sexually active. “The reason why most kids had sex was peer pressure. Many were led to believe that refusing to have sex would ruin the relationship.” said Sanjay Mohanty, a co-ordinator of the survey which was completed late last year. The research will soon be presented to the government which is formulating a national youth policy.

In an earlier study by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, more than a third of the respondents reported having sexual intercourse before the age of 18. Hotels have come up around colleges to cater to this young crowd, some offering rooms on an hourly basis, or chadarbadli as they call it, for Rs200-500. Those who can’t afford hotels go to coffee shops .A popular chain of coffee shops in Mumbai is known to provide students with condoms too on request.

There are other options like parking lots or beaches and resorts in Madh, Alibaug and Aksa. Discotheques too have started catering to students. But even as more youngsters indulge in casual sex, experts say sex education has not kept up with the sexual activity, leading to risky behaviour.
The IIPS study across six states, which questioned youngsters in the 15-24 age group, had some startling findings. Less than half of the youth interviewed knew that the first intercourse could make a woman pregnant. Only about a third of the young women had the correct information about condoms, and even fewer were well-informed about oral pills and IUDs. Doctors say sexually transmitted diseases too are on the rise because of unprotected sex, especially amongst youngsters, many of whom think taking the morning-after pill will do.

Wednesday, 19th March, 2008
Times of India
75% of all rapists are family members : Govt
New Delhi : About 75% of all rapes take place within the family, the government has admitted, in what is a glaring pointer to inadequacies in the present laws.

Saturday – 5th April, 2008
DNA
School van horror confirms Delhi as rape capital
Statistics
Year Rapes
2005 646
2006 599
2007 544


Tuesday – 29th April, 2008
DNA / Times of India / Mumbai Mirror
Delhi’s rape graph goes up / No let up in Delhi rape cases : 2 more assaulted by kin / Housewife and teenaged girl raped in Delhi
As many as 14 cases have been reported in Delhi in the last fortnight ; the victims in most of these cases were minor girls.

Wednesday – 30th April, 2008
Hindustan times / Times of India
Stats confirm Delhi’s crime capital status / Delhi’s shame – 330 rape, molestation cases filed in 4 months
Shocking figures
331 sexual abuse cases this year – this includes 121 rapes and 210 molestations
9 minors among the 15 women raped this month
98% of cases show that the victims were known to the accused
68% of rape accused were illiterate,
24% studied upto class 10 and
80% belonged to the poor strata, say last year’s figures

Thursday – 8th May, 2008
Times of India
Alarming rise in rape of minors: Police data
MUMBAI: In a shocking trend, the number of minors becoming victims of rape this year has shown a sharp increase vis-a-vis those above 18 years, according to statistics with the Mumbai police.
For long, rape victims from across the city have been referred only to the police hospital at Nagpada by the cops for medical examination. Doctors and activists now plan to appeal to senior IPS officers to refer victims to the four super-speciality hospitals in Mumbai, which are well-equipped to deal with such cases. This is because the expertise of doctors from the super-specialty hospitals in handling such cases is high. There is better collection of evidence, assistance of laboratory aids and psychological counselling offered at these hospitals.

STATISTICS
Rape cases registered / Rape cases solved
January
Minors /10 /10
Above 18 years /5 /5
February
Minors /11 /10
Above 18 years /5 / 4
March
Minors /5 /5
Above 18 years /5 / 4

Saturday – 5th July, 2008
Times of India
Dongri’s children’s home is living hellMumbai:
Þ There are 7 Children’s Observation Homes in Mumbai administered by the Children’s aid Society – five in Mankhurd and one each in Dongri and Matunga
Þ The homes are grant-in-aid institutions, which run on state government funds
Þ Children rescued in cases of child labour, minors found begging, destitute children as well as those in conflict with the law are brought to the homes
Þ The premises on which the Dongri home stands was a prison in the colonial era. It houses 500 children.

Some shocking observations made by the TOI team which sneaked inside the walled institution a number of times and taped the testimonies of some of the girls:
§ Children, including girls between the ages of 14 and 16, are not given any undergarments and those given by parents or well-wishers are taken away.
§ Drinking water from a tank in the toilet
§ Skin infections
§ Torn clothes and no shoes
§ Poor quality of food with worms and the portions meager
§ Some children also made to cook food and beaten if the food didn’t turn out well
§ Soap in short supply, usually stolen
§ Children not segregated – children from middle class background housed with delinquents and mentally unstable children
§ No classes, no vocational training or any other form of entertainment like TV

However, the authorities on being questioned denied the charges and also said they were cash-strapped and ran the home with the help of NGO funding – with a monthly fund of Rs.635 for every child, there was little they could do to help the children.


Monday – 2nd June, 2008
DNA
Statistics
90% of the children under the age of 12, who were raped knew the perpetrator
88% of the children were physically abused in families, perpetrators were parents
65% of school children have faced corporal punishment
80% of abused children manifest at least one psychiatric disorder before 21

Friday – 4th July, 2008
DNA
According to a 2006 Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecologist Societies of India (FOGSI) survey conducted across colleges all over India, girls between the age group of 16-18 were sexually active.

Wednesday – 30th July, 2008
Hindustan Times /Times of India

STATISTICS
Þ More than 49 lakh adolescents under the age of 18 are married
Þ About 21% of boys and 28% of girls still get married below the legal age of marriage
Þ Nearly 20% of the 1.5 million girls married under the age of 15 years are already mothers
Þ Deaths of teenage mothers is common – higher in the 15-19 age group than in the 10-14 age
Þ Sexual relationship by 16 is more common, especially in case of girls, some without condoms and some with force
Þ In India, 10 million abortions take place annually and 20,000 females die every year due to abortion complications.

http://www.rotarynm.org/PROJREW0708.php
News paper coverage in New Bombay Plus (Times of India)

Times of India - Navi Mumbai Plus

20th September, 2007
Learn to say no
Workshop conducted on how to empower children and parents to deal with sexual abuse
J V R Gopal

The Rotary Club of Navi Mumbai (RCNM) recently conducted a workshop on Personal Safety of the Child at Rotary Centre, Vashi. A number of school teachers and parents from Navi Mumbai attended the event. Recently, the ministry of Women and Child Development released its first-ever National Study on Child Abuse in April, which revealed the stark reality that every second boy or girl faces sexual abuse in one or more forms at some point in his/her lives.

“It is a very scary scenario that every child is vulnerable to abuse, be it physical, verbal, emotional or sexual. Hence, we thought it appropriate to organise a workshop by NGO Arpan. The main focus of Arpan, which was founded by Pooja Taparia, is on spreading awareness on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). Arpan also provides professional help in dealing with all stages of support for victims of child abuse,” explained Surekha Mhatre, president, RCNM, in her welcome address.

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is defined as any sexual act directed at a minor.

“It could be a sexual touch or fondle, sexually explicit talk or hint, exposure to sexual activity or pornography and finally rape or attempted rape,” said Pushpa Venkatraman, counsellor, Arpan, who conducted the workshop. In fact, according to the national study, 50 percent of sexual offenders were known to the victim or were in positions of trust, such as a family member, close relative, friend or neighbour.

“The study revealed that children in the age group of five to 12 years faced higher levels of abuse. What’s more, boys were equally at risk as girls. Sadly, most children suffer quietly. They don’t talk about the abuse. But we need to talk about it so that we can prevent and cure it,” explained Venkatraman.

CSA affects the child negatively, thereby causing many ill effects. “They include shame guilt and anger; fear shock and confusion; constant illnesses; future exploitative relationships; social with drawl and finally inappropriate sexualised behaviour,” added the counsellor.

The thrust of the workshop therefore was to create awareness about such behavioral changes in children among their parents.

“It is only then that CSA can be prevented. Recognising such an abusive situation is a skill that both parents and children must master. It can help them stay away from such situations. Understanding the concept of Safe Touch (ST) and Unsafe Touch (UT) is the first building block in overcome the menace”, explained Pushpa.

So just like a parent teaches the child traffic safety rules, they should similarly teach children about ST and UT, as well as the methods to take care of them.

“The child should be thus empowered to say ‘no’ to any action or touch that causes discomfort or unease to him or her. Parents, who are aware, can help a sexually abused child much better,” advocated Venkatraman. “It is of utmost importance to remember and remind the child that sexual abuse is not his/ her fault. Children will talk about sexual abuse only in an understanding and comfortable environment.”

Arpan’s road map for parents to help victims of abuse is by first recognising that child has been sexually abused.

“Then the child should be helped to talk about this experience. Finally, professional support should be sought help to heal the child”, advised Pushpa.

The victim should be helped to move on and live beyond the shadow of the trauma of sexual abuse with dignity.

“The child has the right to do so. If the intervention is not undertaken within two years of abuse, the suppressed memory is bound to play havoc in the latter parts of life,” she concluded.

One of the delegates, Kavita Nair Bhatia, said, “I am associated with an NGO. I attended the seminar in order to understand the identification part, as well as the right time for intervention”.

Dec 2, 2007
DNA
Sexual abuse is on the rise in city colleges
MUMBAI: According to a recent study on sexual harassment in Mumbai’s colleges conducted by Akshara, a city-based NGO, 61 per cent of the 533 female students interviewed had been sexually harassed in colleges, either by their peers or by staff. It’s not just girls who are being victimised. More than half of the 327 male students interviewed also admitted to having been sexually harassed during their college years.

Nineteen-year-old commerce student Ameeshi Khanna steers clear of her college staff room. This was where she was sexually harassed by her principal three months ago. It was only after weeks of counselling and reassurances from her teachers that she resumed attending lectures in the suburban college. The researchers spoke to students from 44 city colleges in South Mumbai, Western and Central suburbs, and Navi Mumbai, which included academic institutions like St Andrews, KC, St Xavier’s and Somaiya Colleges. The findings also revealed that 66.7 per cent of the male students admitted to have sexually harassed their victims ‘just for fun’.

Dr Nandita Gandhi, co-director of Akshara said: “Sexual harassment can range from eve-teasing to molestation and rape. A majority of the victims are females, while most of the male students are perpetrators.” The study stated that almost all the female students resort to absenteeism when sexually harassed.

DNA dt 11th Dec 2007
Blood ties
On June 7, 2006, the convict had tried to rape his 13-year-old daughter while his wife and two other children were not at home. But the victim pleaded to the court to show leniency towards her father


A girl’s plea for leniency towards her father, who tried to rape her, has helped him get off lightly with a court awarding him a two- ear jail term and recommending counselling on family values. Moved by the 13-year-old victim’s plea that she still loved her father and wanted him back in the family, additional sessions Judge Reena Singh Nag observed that he should be aided effectively in assimilating into society during his sentence. “It is observed that the victim has shown her immense concern, love and affection for her father and stated while testifying in the court that she wants her father to mend his ways,” the court noted while citing various Supreme Court and Delhi high court judgments. Pointing the need for “correctional behavioural therapy” of the 32-year-old convict, the court has asked Tihar jail authorities to ensure that he attends meditation and yoga classes regularly. The jail authorities have also been directed to ensure that the convict gets counselling from psychologists. The court further directed the social welfare department to seek the assistance of NGOs and probation officers to take care of the basis needs of the family and the education of the convict’s four daughters. The convict was held guilty by the court on the basis of the testimonies of his daughter and wife.On June 7, 2006, the convict attempted to rape his daughter while his wife and two other daughters were not at home. The victim told her mother about the incident after she came back and a police case was lodged. The prosecution went on to prove the charges against the accused.

Guard the innocents A Correspondent

Posted On Friday, November 23, 2007
Recent incidents on abuse of children in our suburbs has prompted residents to issue a wake-up call against child abuse

The recent incident where the bus driver of a reputed school in Powai molested four school children has sent shock waves among both parents and teachers. The school did take action, but this has not healed the scars this incident has left on innocent minds.

Also, a recent survey by the Mumbai Parents Teachers Association shows over the past two years, sexual abuse of school children has increased by 20 per cent of which five per cent of the accused have been bus drivers.

The figures tally with the Central Government figures which point out that India has the dubious distinction of having the world's largest number of sexually abused children with a child below 16 years raped every 155 minutes, a child below 10 every 13th hour, and one in every 10 children sexually abused at any point in time. These figures resoundingly break the silence that surrounds sexual abuse of children and perpetuates the evil.

In view of these incidents, many institutions in the eastern suburbs tied up with psychologists in an attempt to prevent such crimes on the occasion of the International Day for Prevention of Child Abuse.
"It is time we acknowledged the problem and did something about it," says Dr Preethi Menon, a Mulund-based paediatric psychiatrist dealing with child sexual abuse. Sexual abuse can take several forms - from verbal, visual, tactile, exhibitionist and pornographic offences and fondling to anything that sexually stimulates the offender.
The strategy of the offender can vary from tricking, luring, forcing and pressuring to threatening the victim. According to Dr Menon, it is an abuse of power and a violation of the child's right to a normal and trusting relationship.

The issue is that prevention can be focussed at three levels. At the primary level, the focus can be on removing the causes, strengthening the child's competence to recognise and react, increasing parental awareness, strengthening social vigilance, and bringing in effective and punitive penal policy. At the secondary level, the emphasis should be on early detection, quick intervention and provision of a supportive environment in schools and families.
Tertiary intervention should involve coordination among the police, courts, counsellors, doctors and social workers.It is the children of the lower socio-economic strata who suffer the maximum.
Says Sonali Jaiswal, a resident of Mulund, "Often we come across victims of child abuse. In such cases we must draw attention of those who can provide aid. I once reported such a matter to the NGO Arpan.
(It works towards this cause in Mumbai by conducting teacher-training programmes in schools and awareness talks amongst parents and individuals).They gave her proper attention and gave psychiatric treatment to her."

Says Pooja Taparia, director, Arpan, "The parents should teach their child personal safety just like they teach them how to cross the road or to stay away from fire. The parents should ensure a good rapport with your child so that chances are high that the child might report abuse. Most children don't talk about it.
They are confused and do not know how to speak about it. The problem is neither the schools nor the parents acknowledge the seriousness of the problem."mp.plus@gmail.com