Topic: child abuse

Fulmoni Munda’s son Taran (name changed to protect identity as per law), who would be 27 this year, had gone missing in 2011. Fulmoni, a retired tea garden worker who lives with her elder sister in the Matiali block of Malbazar sub-division in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, believes a local goon trafficked him to work in Delhi. The elderly lady waits for her long-lost son in her small cottage with only an old passport-size photo, which hasn’t been of much help in finding him.

A 12-year-old boy is in the intensive care unit after he was sexually assaulted allegedly by three minors, in Northeast Delhi last week. He was assaulted and attacked with bricks and rods.

The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed a Bombay High Court decision to acquit a man charged with assault under POCSO solely on the grounds that he groped the child over her clothes without ‘skin-to-skin’ contact.

The Childline India helpline received around one lakh SOS calls asking for protection from abuse and violence in 11 days, a sombre indication that the pandemic controlled restrictions have turned into extended captivity for children trapped with their abusers at home.

Independent UN human rights experts have called on States to boost child protection measures to help safeguard the welfare of millions of children who may be more exposed to violence, sale, trafficking, sexual abuse and exploitation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

While the government has passed a series of laws increasing punishment for rape of an adult to 20 years in jail, widespread violence against women in the country continues. Earlier this year, India's government approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping a child under 12.