Child sexual abuse: Working towards a solution (Comment)

The media is abuzz these days with horrendous stories of child sexual abuse, the most recent incidents being of abuse in shelter homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

General News : The media is abuzz these days with horrendous stories of child sexual abuse, the most recent incidents being of abuse in shelter homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. While the trauma experienced by the girls will send a chill down the spines of most people, it is disheartening that hardly anyone seems to be concerned about the "why" of these incidents.

Many abusers carry the burden of a past childhood sexual abuse themselves. Not provided with any intervention to heal the emotional trauma, they simply do to children what was done to them.

A majority of the abusers indulging in non-touch forms of abuse are blissfully unaware that their acts are punishable under the POCSO Act.

Once we are aware of the common causes, it is essential that we set about preventing these causes and assuaging the trauma of the survivors. It is important for us, as a country, to become more psychologically minded and facilitate psycho-social intervention for every child sexual abuse victim. Treatment and rehabilitation of children who have experienced child sexual abuse is one sure way to reduce the number of adult abusers.

Article Source >> BS