When Gayathri Keerthana, a Coimbatorebased child counsellor, was talking to a group of Class 6 children about good touch and bad touch, one of the girls broke into tears. She said she was being abused by her father's friends for a long time.
This is not an isolated case. A study conducted by Aram Foundation, an NGO working for child rights, has found that about 29% of students studying in 71 schools and 56 colleges in Coimba tore, Erode, Salem, Tirupur and Dharmapuri have suffered sexual abuse. The schools include corporation, government as well as private ones.
Of the 5,120 students counselled over five years by the NGO, almost one-third -1,463 students -said they were sexually abused. Some 70% of these were victims of inappropriate touching and 29% of grievous sexual abuse, including rape.
Of the 418 children who were victims of grievous sexual abuse, only one child was abused by an unknown person. “Among the chil dren I counselled, the perpetrator was almost always a person known to the victim.This includes neighbours, so-called respected adults known to the family , tenants, drivers plying on the route, friends of siblings, staff in authority and in some very grievous cases close relatives such as brothers and parents themselves. Stepfather assault is much more common than by biological father. Some older boys also abuse younger boys,“ said Dorai Sundaram, counsellor, Aram foundation.
Past studies about child sexual abuse have also revealed similar alarming numbers. “As per a study conducted by TulirCPHCSA in 2006, in which more than 2,211 schoolgoing children in Chennai were interviewed, child sexual abuse prevalence rate was 42%. Another study conducted in 2007 backed by the government of India, in which 1,25,000 children were interviewed in 13 states, more than half (53%) said that they had been subjected to one or more forms of sexual abuse,“ said a Delhibased advocate.
S Latha of Aram foundation says: “Children think that it happens to everyone and they grow up thinking it is normal but suffer from psychological and neurological problems,“ she said.
Dorai Sundaram said that children between 14 and 18 years were the most vulnerable since there several hormonal changes occur during these years.
