INDIA AND THE GIRL CHILD.

India is an extremely beautiful country with beautiful stories of bravery and valour. It goes without saying that so many women of our country have made us proud. To name a few, Arundhati Roy who won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 1997 for her first novel The God of Small Things, Mary Kom - a five-time winner of the World Amateur Boxing Championship, and the only woman boxer to win a medal in each of the six world competitions, Seema Rao who is the country’s first woman commando trainer and she’s qualified as a professional medical doctor. She also possesses an MBA in crisis management. And many such wonderful women.

But just like how a coin has two sides, India too, has it’s dark ugly side. Each and every day, we learn about heartbreaking incidents in our country, against the girl child. Rape, trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labour and the beggary are some of the forms of violence perpetrated on the girl child. In many parts of India, the birth of a girl child is not welcomed. Right from her arrival, she faces discrimination, humiliation, and oppression at every stage of life. When it comes to healthcare, education and growth opportunities, she is neglected because of her gender.These topics are deemed uncomfortable to talk about, and are often treated as a ‘taboo’ topic. How can something which happens to our own sisters, be a hushed topic?

Rape.

According to recent crime figures, every fourth rape victim in India is a child. In an overwhelming number of rape cases, the victims know the perpetrators. According to recent government data, 32,500 cases of rape were registered with the police in 2017 – almost 90 per day. All of them are horrifying. A few of such cases were:

• In UP, A teenage girl of a brick kiln labourer went to fetch water from a hand pump on Friday night, when the two accused forcibly took her to a hut near a pond in the village on a motorcycle and allegedly raped her.They also tortured the girl by inflicting burn injuries on her with cigarette butts and when she fell unconscious, fled the spot.

• On 17 January 2018, Asifa, an 8-year old minor girl, was raped and murdered in Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.

• In New Delhi, a minor was found at her home, soaked in blood. She sustained brutal injuries and was also bleeding from her private parts. She was assaulted with a sharp weapon on her head.

Child Marriage

Estimates suggest that each year, at least 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India, which makes it home to the largest number of child brides in the world. Child marriage violates children’s rights and places them at high risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse. Child marriage affects both girls and boys, but it affects girls disproportionately. A girl child who’s married, does not get a chance to pursue her career and is burdened with the household chores ending their childhood way before it’s meant to be.

Child trafficking.

Approximately 150,000 women and children are trafficked from South Asia every year and most of them from, via and to India. Trafficking in children for commercial sexual exploitation is one of the primary manifestations of commercial sexual exploitation of children in India, which exists on a large scale and in many forms. Children, especially those from poor families, are most vulnerable to trafficking. The National Human Rights Commission Action Research Study conducted in 2005 found that a majority of trafficking victims belong to socially deprived sections of society, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, etc. The majority of trafficking in underage girls for sexual exploitation, however, happens within the country. Children are trafficked to and from states such as Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal .

Few things we can do to help.

• Educate yourself on violence against women.

• Speak out against all forms of violence.

• Don’t blame victims, and reinforce that rape is never the victim’s fault.

• Learn how racism and sexism are connected.

• Teach kids that violence will not solve problems.

• Applaud others who speak out against violence and oppression.

• Report it if you witness sexual harassment in your school or workplace.

• Celebrate all aspects of masculinity, including compassion and sensitivity.