Over 53 Percent Indian Children Victim of Sexual Abuse

BANGALORE: Today, there is rampant increase in the number of Indian children facing sexual abuses. The number of cases of child sexual abuses has considerably increased over the past few years. In fact, large numbers of people are unaware of the provisions of the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) . In most of the cases, children being small are unable to describe their ordeal in detail, which only favors the offenders.

"More than 53 percent children in India have faced sexual abuse. In Maharashtra, out of the 198 cases filed, only 38 cases have received conviction till now. This needs to change immediately, the pace of convictions under the POCSO Act needs to increase,” said the Chief Justice of Bombay high court, Honorable justice Mohit S Shah, as reported by Chittaranjan Tembhekar of the Times of India.

“We also need better implementation of the Act at the grassroots level and ensure that a level of sensitivity is adopted while dealing with the victims as the law and its procedures end- up intimidating the child. The procedures and environment need to be made more child friendly if we want to increase conviction in child abuse cases. In the end, the burden to prove innocence must lie on the offender and not the child," added Shah. He was speaking at a seminar on child abuse held in Mumbai. The recent incident of a six-year-old girl student allegedly raped at a prominent school, have once again highlighted the cases of child physical abuse and its prevalence across India.

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