A Silence So Shrill

These are the key findings from the survey conducted by the child and welfare department, the Delhi-based NGO Prayas and funded by the UNICEF. The survey, the largest of its kind in the world, is slated for release in March.

Updated on April 9, 2007: Finally, the full survey is out now and is available here.

Number of Respondents: 16,800 children, 5,000 young adults
States covered: 13, including Delhi, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Bihar, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh

50% Children who suffered abuse of one kind or other
30% Sexually abused by relatives or known persons
25% Sexually abused
50% Emotionally abused
40% Physically abused
60% Economically abused

These are the different categories of abuse covered by the survey:

• Emotional abuse: When a girl child is constantly ill-treated for not being born a male. Or any child pulled up for non-performance in school.
• Sexual abuse: Extends from fondling to rape
• Physical abuse: Force used against a child by teachers, parents and others
• Economic abuse: Forced labour in both hazardous and non-hazardous places of work

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he horrific Nithari murders in Noida near Delhi—scores of children abused and then murdered—is perhaps an extreme case. But the scourge of child abuse is very real. Hidden from the media glare, millions of children suffer abuse in silence. Outlook has got exclusive access to the largest survey on child abuse ever conducted in India. The findings of the study, to be officially released next month, are, to say the least, mind-numbing.

The survey, a joint venture between UNICEF, the Union department of women and child development (DWCD) and the Delhi-based NGO, Prayas, has taken a year to complete. As many as 16,800 children below the age of 18, and close to 5,000 young adults in 13 states, were taken into confidence to understand the extent of abuse. Working children, street children, children under institutional care and children within the confines of their family were spoken to.

The broad findings of the survey are disturbing. Till now it was assumed that child abuse was rampant only in juvenile homes, orphanages or among street children. But the survey proves that child abuse cuts across economic, social, religious and class barriers. Here are some of the startling findings:

• Close to 50 per cent of the respondents spoken to have suffered some form of abuse or the other.
  
• 25 per cent of the children have suffered sexual abuse, more often at the hands of family members or persons known to the victims. In more than 30 per cent of the cases, relatives of the child are involved.
  
• More than 40 per cent of the children have faced corporal punishment.
  
• At least five per cent of the respondents have resorted to substance abuse to cope with the sexual or physical trauma they were routinely subjected to.