Women and Children, New Dehli, India

About two weeks ago I ran across an article about the rape and murder a young woman in New Dehli, India. The article discussed the situation and the women in New Dehli’s outrage toward the crime. I am aware of the mass number of rape case in New Dehli, however didn’t realize that there were as many rape cases reported for children as there for adult women. Unlike the sexual violence that gets reported against women in New Dehli, the sexual acts committed toward children get brushed under the rug or if a report is filed, children being reported face extreme  humiliation as they undergo a number of tests with police officers who don’t believe their accounts anyway.  Today a report was released on the number of child sexual abuse cases in India and how the government failed to do their job by protecting and treating Indian innocent children. The report said sexual violence was "common" in many households, schools and orphanages in India. The Indian government did not give the public reaction to the report as contrary to their policy. A government study in 2007 reported that two out of three children in India gets physical violence and that 53% of the nearly 12,300 children surveyed reported one or two sexual violence. Another report said that more than 7,200 children, including a toddler, raped every year in India. Child protection activists believe there are many cases that go unreported. According to activists in India, the children sexually abused from relatives, neighbors and schools and many cases that evaporated as the traditional Indian system, parents and relatives fear the report will lead to social stigma. The report was also said to have asked the Indian government to improve protection for children from sexual abuse as part of broader reform efforts. It also states the government efforts to tackle the problem, including new legislation to protect children from sexual abuse, would also fail unless protection mechanisms were properly implemented and the justice system reformed to ensure that abuse is reported and fully prosecuted.  As the Dhruva Jaishankar, writer of the article “Child sex victims often ignored, humiliated in India: report” interviewed several peoples opinion on the topic and many of them feel that the reason why the India’s efforts to protect children from sexual violence failed because the government mechanisms fail to provide adequate protection for the children. As of now the dignities and livelihoods of these women and children are at  the hands of India’s Patriarchal government.