Breaking the Silence

Child Sexual Abuse in India

This report is an attempt to examine what the government does to prevent child sexual abuse, how it responds when it receives allegations, and how it treats victims of abuse. This is not a quantitative research but rather looks through a number of detailed case studies of child sexual abuse. For this study more than one hundred government officials, doctors, police officials, lawyers, members of nongovernmental organizations, and children were interviewed . The study has a specific focus on the issue of child sexual abuse in residential care.

The study observes that despite commitments to ensure the protection of children, the Government of India still struggles to generate effective oversight mechanisms to prevent child sexual abuse. Additionally, existing child protection systems and mechanisms and law enforcement need to be strengthened to prevent and protect children and ensure that perpetrators are punished.

While the study looks into the factors that leads to such gaps and challenges in combating child sexual abuse. It also gives specific recommendations for the National and State Governments.