Indian study reveals widespread child abuse 

ABC.net Australia, April 9, 2007

< http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1892950.htm >

It has been revealed more than half the number of Indian children
questioned in a landmark survey were physically or sexually abused.

India's Minister for Women and Child Development, Renuka Chowdhury, said
the survey of 15,000 children and young adults across the country was
the first attempt by the Government to document the extent of child
abuse in India.

"We always say our children are safe, we take good care of them -- these
bad things don't happen here," Ms Chowdhury said.

"We never had any kind of introspection that this is not true."

Two out of three of the 12,446 respondents between the ages of five and
18 had been physically abused, which included slapping, kicking or
beating with a stick, the study said, in most cases by parents or teachers.

More than 50 per cent had been sexually abused in ways that ranged from
severe, such as rape or fondling, to milder forms of molestation that
included forcible kissing. 

The study also interviewed 2,324 young adults between the ages of 18 and
24, almost half of whom reported being physically or sexually abused as
children.

A fifth of the child respondents had experienced severe sexual abuse,
the study said, and in almost 80 per cent of the cases the abuser was a
person well known by the child.

Ms Chowdhury said a culture where children were taught to obey adults
unconditionally and where there was a strong taboo on talking openly
about sex contributed to the problem. 

"Quite often they end up being silent victims," she said.