I am Pooja Taparia, Founder and CEO of Arpan, an NGO in Mumbai working on the issue of child sexual abuse for over 6 years now. 

Below are some thoughts that I have on sexual crimes having worked directly with over 10000 children and over 18000 adults on creating awareness on child sexual abuse and empowering children and primary stakeholders such as parents and teachers with information and skills to deal with the issue of child sexual abuse.

1. I feel the magnitude of sexual crimes against both children and adults is huge specially as we are also a population of 1.2 billion.
2. We do not have enough police and courts to try cases effectively. Police are not trained adequately to collect evidence and present in court. Rape has seen only 3% conviction and when over 20,000 cases of rape are reported against women every single year in India. Approximately 15,000 cases against minors.
3. I read a recent article in the paper which said that 93% criminal cases were pending in Maharashtra in which 68% of cases weren't even yet investigated by the police.
4. The trauma and stigma a victim goes through in the trial process is huge and then to have conviction as low as 3% is further traumatic.
5. We are talking about kinds of punishment when we don't even find most offenders guilty.
6. Its also difficult to get evidence in cases of rape unless medical examination is done within 24 hrs. 
7. A whole range of other sexual crimes that do not include penetration is dependent on proving sexual intent. Now how does one prove that? 
8. In my opinion while the criminal justice system needs empowerment through more police, more training of the police, the judges, more special and fast track courts, parallely we need to think of other solutions too. 
9. Can we at the community level develop multi disciplinary teams to which people can go and report and seek support? Just an idea... 
10. Meanwhile most importantly we need to look within our own minds, homes and address gender inequality, attitudes towards women.
11. We need to stop discriminating between a girl child and boy child. 
12. We need to stop looking at the girl child and women as the lesser sex.
13. We need to teach our children to respect the opposite sex and build empathy in them.
14. Rape is about power. Most sexual crimes are about power. We need to work with men to teach them to use power positively and not negatively.
15. People are influenced by films. Objectification of the woman in films and media is another reason why men think they have an ownership on women. 
16. As a society we need to change our perspective on sex, change it from a moralistic perspective to a realistic perspective. The taboo and stigma around it prevents most children and women to even talk about it and they silently suffer for years. 

Arpan teaches personal safety skills to children in schools in the age group of 6-12 yrs. We teach them how they can protect themselves from sexual abuse and report. We build on their self esteem, teach them how to be assertive, teach them empathy and many such life skills. We have seen amazing outcomes of this. We also believe that teaching empathy at a young age and setting boundaries can prevent boys to become potential offenders in the future. 

I would be happy to share these thoughts and speak to someone from your newspaper on the same. 

best regards,

Pooja Taparia

August 21, 2012

Maha shame: Maharashtra tops in child murders

Times of India 

MUMBAI: Maharashtra tops the list of places most dangerous for children under 10 years of age to live in, as it has the highest number of murder victims in this age group. And when the age bar is raised to 18 years, the state slips a tad to second spot, just behind Uttar Pradesh. So, it comes as no surprise that of the top seven cities in the country having the worst crime record on children, three from the state—Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur—figure in that list.

The National Crime Records Bureau data between 2006 and 2011 show that Maharashtra with murders of 461 boys and 430 girls under 10 years of age is far ahead of states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. As for the total number of children up to the age of 18 killed, Maharashtra has seen 757 boys and 639 girls murdered, taking the toll to 1,396 deaths in six years.

Most of the deaths have been caused by either sexual abuse or crime committed for money . There are instances of domestic violence also that have claimed the lives of children, experts said. "Most of the sexual abuse cases that come to light are from the lower class of society. Such cases happen in the upper class too but few get reported or noticed," said Bina Seth Laskshri, a member of the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

MOST CASES ARE OF SEXUAL ABUSE, SAY EXPERTS

The main reasons behind child murders have been sexual abuse, kidnapping for ransom and domestic violence , while others like illegitimate pregnancy and neglect of girl child are also factors for the deaths.

 

Arpan wins India NGO National Award 2011

August 17, 2012

Arpan won the India NGO National Award 2011 in the 'small' category (budget under Rs.5 cr.) for doing exemplary work in the NGO sector by way of professional management, innovation in local resource mobilization and the effectiveness of the organization's activities in improving the lives of the people it serves. These awards are given by The Resource Alliance, UK and The Rockefeller Foundation, US after months of scrutiny, field assessment and then the final jury panel.

Out of 180 applicants from across the country we got selected as one of the top 12 regional winners and then on August 17, at a function in New Delhi we were announced as the National winners in the 'small' category. Honourable Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Ms. Ambika Soni gave the national awards at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.

Arpan is currently working in Mumbai, with a child centric model of intervention in the area of child sexual abuse with a balanced emphasis on prevention and healing components. 

Arpan empowers children, teachers, parents, NGO professionals and other care givers in multiple setting like schools, NGO set ups, institutions etc. with knowledge, skills and attitude to prevent instances of child sexual abuse and provide adequate support to children who have been victims. Along with empowering relevant stakeholders, Arpan also offers psychotherapeutic support through trained, qualified therapists to children and adult survivors of sexual abuse and their families.  

Activists oppose making rape gender-neutral

Times of India
July 20, 2012

Amid opposition from women's groups, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal making rape a gender-neutral offence, under which the word 'rape' would be replaced by the phrase 'sexual assault'.

Other proposals, including making 'stalking' and 'acid attacks' specific offences, raising age of consent for sex from 16 to 18 years, preventing rape accused from questioning the character of victims and harsher punishment for custodial rape also got the Cabinet's nod.

All these provisions are part of a draft proposal, which seeks amendments in Indian Penal Code (IPC), CrPC and Indian Evidence Act. "Amendment bills will be brought in Parliament during the forthcoming monsoon session next month," said an official.

Mumbai Advocate Flavia Agnes said, "I oppose proposal to make rape laws gender-neutral. We had opposed it when the government made child rape laws gender-neutral. After the feminist wave of the 1980s, many countries in the West made rape laws gender-neutral. But, they have realized these laws are harming women more than men.

"There is physicality in the definition of rape, there is use of power and the victim has a stigma attached to her. If made gender-neutral, rape laws will not have the deterrence value and it will make it more complicated for judges in court.

"The consequences of rape for a woman are far-reaching. She has to battle social stigma, social mindset. While fixing marriages, nobody asks a man if he is a virgin."

Delhi advocate Vrinda Grover said: "Why should rape laws be gender-neutral? That would be making a mockery of what is actually happening in the country. There are no instances of women raping men. I don't think men are facing serious sexual violence as women. Consider the brutality and intensity of sexual violence against women. Hope the home minister does not put out a bill that delays or obfuscates discussions on the issue".

At present, the offence is defined under section 375 of the IPC, which deals with a crime where a man is said to commit 'rape' in case he has sexual intercourse with a woman against her will.

Speaking about the Cabinet's decision, the women and child development (WCD) minister Krishna Tirath said it had also been decided by the Cabinet that certain sections of CrPC or IPC, which define minors as below 16 years, would be amended and a uniform age bar of below 18 years, would be set as the legal age for minors.

Sexual assault likely to attract life imprisonment

July 19, 2012, Hindustan Times

The UPA government is finally ready with the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 to slap life imprisonment for sexual assault and acid attacks - seven years after it initiated a review of criminal laws.
The proposal that the cabinet will consider soon will replace the term "rape"
with "sexual assault" to make it gender neutral, allowing the victim for the first time to lodge complaints against the offender irrespective of sex. The Centre has also decided to widen the coverage under sexual assault, allowing victims of forced unnatural sex to lodge complaints with the police.
"Irrespective of the complainant's sex, the offence ... would attract a maximum punishment of life imprisonment," said a top government official.
The proposal - prepared by the home ministry - will also end the conflict between different laws by raising the age of consent for sex from 16 to 18 years across all laws.  
For tackling acid attacks on women, an addition to the IPC proposes a jail term from 10 years to life. It has been made clear that a fine of Rs. 10 lakh will be imposed on the accused, which will be paid as compensation to the victim.
What's more, in case a husband, legally separated from his wife, tries to indulge in forced sex, he could face a jail term ranging from two to seven years.
Laying down strong safeguards for victims, the police and courts have been barred from making complainants of below 18 years to face the accused.
Similarly, changes in the evidence law will include prevention of questions on the past conduct of victims.

Hindustan Times
June 09, 2012

Age of consent to be fixed at 18 yrs

The conflict between laws on the age of consent for sex will end soon with the government set to make changes in the criminal law to raise it from 16 to 18 years.

The controversy arose after Parliament last month passed a bill for the protection of children from sexual offences, which states that sex with a teenager below the age of 18, even if consensual, is a crime.

However, section 375 of the Indian Penal Code states: "A man is said to commit rape with a woman if he has sexual intercourse… with or without her consent, when she is under 16 years of age."

Following criticism over contradictory provisions, the law ministry has examined relevant laws and expedited the process to bring uniformity in them.

"It is a fact that, currently, there is a difference in relevant laws on the age for legal sex in India. The government is in the process of putting an end to all confusion," said a top ministry official.

He said a committee headed by former home secretary GK Pillai, with legislative affairs and law secretaries as members, had in its recommendations on rape laws already recommended that the age of consent be raised to 18 years.

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, introduced by the women and child development ministry in Parliament in May, initially kept the age limit at 16 years, but raised it by two years following the recommendation of a parliamentary panel that examined the bill.

The panel had cited the United Nations Convention on Rights of Children and a number of Indian laws in favour of its argument.

"The committee notes that other laws such as the Indian Majority Act, the Indian Contract Act and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act define a child as one who has not completed 18 years of age," stated the parliamentary standing committee on human resource development

4.6.12

Times of India

Shame : Delhi  still India's rape capital

MUMBAI: Delhi continues to be the rape capital of the country, followed by Mumbai. Delhi registered 568 cases of rape, compared to 218 in Mumbai in 2011, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics showed. In the 2007-2011 period, Delhi topped the chart, followed by Mumbai, Bhopal, Pune and Jaipur.

Among states, Maharashtra ranked fifth with 7,703 cases registered; Madhya Pradesh tops the list with 15,275, followed by West Bengal (11,427), UP (8,834) and Assam (8,060). The report showed that 75,257 accused (aged 18-30) were arrested in the 2007-2011 period across India; 38,845 fall in the age group of 30-45. From those aged above 45, over 9,000 were arrested, including senior citizens. Juveniles (below 18) come last in the list with 4,461 cases.

Investigators have found that the accused are known to victims in most rape cases.

"It is a social issue and it is impossible to come out with an initiative or strategy to curb such offences. Many cases registered are technical (with victim's consent)," said Mumbai police spokesperson and deputy commissioner of police (crime branch unit-l) Nisar Tamboli. "Offences are often committed by friends and relatives who lure the victim with false promises. Many times, offences are committed by unidentified persons and they easily escape arrest," he said.

Agreeing with police, psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty figured out three reasons that lead a person to commit rape. "Anonymity, impulsiveness and power are some causes that make a person to commit the offence," Shetty said.

He said there was a system collapse in India. "There is hardly any fear left in the person who commits the offence. People should come together and form a community to fight for justice, to stop the serious offence. Then only can one find a solution," he said.

Former IPS officer Y P Singh said the police informally classify rape into two categories: technical and violent. "In case of technical rapes, there is an element of consent involved and there is no violence. Some examples are a lady caught red-handed in an act and then alleging rape; a man inducing a lady with a false promise of marriage and having intercourse. There have also been cases where departmental seniors have called for wives of suspended juniors to stop the husband being dismissed from service," said Singh.