Essay on “Sexual Abuse of The Indian Girl” Complete Essay, Paragraph, Speech for Class 10, 12 Students.

Sexual Abuse of The Indian Girl

It is ironic that while we are mouthing platitudes on the rights of the girl child in every seminar, the number of child prostitutes is increasing by leaps and bounds. The convention on the Rights of Child to which India is a signatory clearly says that the state will protect the child from every kind of abuse including sexual exploitation.

In reality trafficking of children and children, prostitution is developing in an alarming manner and the state neither has the will to protect the girl child nor the power to control this thriving and lucrative trade. The rights of the child do not form part of a political agenda because girls are still given a low priority in the order of things. The commercial sexual exploitation of children can be termed as the most depraved form of child labor. But sexual abuse of a child does not occur in a vacuum; it involves a more widespread system of exploitation.

In India, where 50 percent of people live below the poverty line, girls are looked upon as a source of earning money. There are instances of parents belonging to poor families selling their girls to pimps, or agents directly for a price or sending them to cities through agents to work as domestic servants or factory workers. These self-styled agents offering the bait of employment often dupe the parents by taking these children to the brothels to work as sex workers. Once they are in the trade, it is well nigh impossible for them to come out of the clutches of the mafia, the dons, the pimps, the criminals, and the brothel madams.

Grinding poverty, ignorance, illiteracy coupled with religious sanctions and traditional practices push children towards prostitution. But in the ultimate analysis, it is the families, who are to a great extent responsible for the entry of the children into this reprehensible profession. Some girls are also lured into marriages (sometimes fake) and then thrust into prostitution; whereas some are simply abducted from villages or from small towns and sold directly to the brothels. Once in the profession, the girls lead a horrendous life, in dingy, dark, unhygienic rooms, leading a life worse than that of an animal.

Further, fierce consumerism growing materialism supported by media hype, degeneration of moral values, the disintegration of joint families, the spread of street children, and the idea of making easy money is some of the contributory factors leading to the growth of child prostitution. The fact that they soon become prey to disillusionment and diseases is another matter. The National Crime Records Bureau in its report of 1994 states that there has been a 100 percent increase in kidnapping and abductions in 1994 over 1990, at least 60 percent of which is for the purpose of forcibly getting the child married and later for induction into prostitution. Again, children who have been raped molested, and sexually abused by their own family members very often end up as prostitutes.

The growth of the tourism industry bringing in foreign money is also largely responsible for the sex trade in India. It is even becoming high-tech, with child pornography and sex tourism information offered openly on the internet. Foreigners are increasingly favoring India for their sexual gratification. They find laws relating to sexual abuse are not stringent enough. Surveys have revealed that prostitute mothers do not want their children to be forced into the flesh trade. Yet circumstances beyond their control decide otherwise; they being totally under the clutches of brothel madams, pimps, and local criminal syndicates.

The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act prescribes stringent action against those inducting children below 16 years and minors between 16 to 18 years for prostitution. Though Section 366 A and B of the Indian Penal Code provide punishment for procuring minor girls and importing of girls from countries and, Section 372 provides punishment for selling and buying minors, inter-state trafficking of girls is not properly investigated. Further, only prostitutes are made culpable before law whereas, the customers go scot-free. There should be a law against sexual exploitation of children because the age of the child in these laws differs. A minor should be defined as someone below 18 years in conformity with the Rights of the child. Further, the punishment for the abusers should be exemplary.