SOCIAL ETHICS and Child Abuse.

Dear friends,

Children are indeed very close to my heart... as much as I believe that a child's has the potential to change the world, I would like to make a difference to their world by talking about something that's very close to my heart... 

An Offspring is a true gift to its Parents.

Treating a child in an unfair way because the child is thought of as weaker position by the perpetrator is perceived as an abuse.

To explain further – Abuse of a Child is without their consent they are touched or treated in an unfair way – either physically, verbally or emotionally.

1) Is Child Abuse a reality in the Indian context?

Child Abuse is relevant to the Indian Society. A recent incident of a three-year old boy being severely tortured physically by his step-mother was reported in the newspaper. Also, school-going children face the problem of being taunted by faceless abusers on the street.

Young children are abused verbally by their parents, sometimes altering their psyche considerably. Therefore, Child Abuse is relevant to the Indian context.

2) How is Child Abuse perpetrated?

Many reasons. Poverty or by frustration created by mentally-ill parents due to economic or social problems. Weak children, who may belong to family/parents who are low on self-esteem may further enhance this. Also any kind of frustration prevailing in a child's home may tend to have a direct or sometimes an indirect tendency to under-develop a child's self-esteem. Therefore a child who becomes an easy target of abuse may tend to develop such feelings which can often result in self harm.

3) What are the preventive measures?

Children must be made aware of the concept of 'self' and why it is not good for anybody to touch you. The importance of differentiating between a 'good touch' and a 'bad' touch is a must.

A child who may have suffered from being abused should be treated with justice. One important thing to be kept in mind is that the child should not be blamed for what has happened, rather the child should be helped to confide in parents and teachers, so as to remove the feeling of guilt-consciousness. This will ultimately help the child to grow out of the suffering.

The abuser needs to be given psychiatric help, so that he may not become a threat to the society or to himself. I especially feel so because the feelings of the abuser and the abused need to be channelized in a constructive way.

Finally, a legal action will certainly make sure that the crime rates go down.