Home Not a Safe Haven for Girls: A Study on Sexual Abuse of Girl Children

A country's future depends largely on its young. Ensuring that children have a safe and healthy upbringing is essential to their success as they grow from infants to teenagers and adults. Child sexual abuse is one of the most serious societal issues of our day and is considered a serious criminal offence. As per NCRB Report, 2022, 99.7% of victims of child sexual abuse were known to the offenders, out of which, 12.08% of the victims were abused by a family member only, indicating a high incidence of incest. Addressing child abuse, especially within families and communities, is a complex and challenging task. Due to feelings of shame, remorse, and intimidation by the abusers as well as the fear of social rejection and loss of family honour, the abused do not come out. As such, an attempt is made to study the abuse of girl children, in collaboration with a hospital, where the abused have sought treatment, in Patiala district of Punjab. The purpose of the study is to find out the demographic profile of the abused female children along with the measures to check sexual abuse.