Child Sexual Abuse in family: A Study of Social Support Mechanism

This document provides a comprehensive insight of a research study titled “Child Sexual Abuse in the Family: A Study of Social Support Mechanisms” conducted in the metropolitan city of Delhi. The increasing reports in news daily indicate the prevalence of menace of child sexual abuse within the four walls of home of the child victim in present day India. Despite mechanisms for providing support to the child victims for disclosures about the incidence of sexual victimization, the child sometimes remains silent about the occurrence of CSA against it and in many cases, withdraws complaint formally even after reporting it to government organizations. There is no formal record presently compiled or analyzed to press this point; hence this study tends to look into the grey areas about the problem by studying reported cases of CSA against child at the hands of members of family/kin by studying existing official records in the north-west district of Delhi.
Also, this work apart from being a fact-finding study, attempts to discover what people do to support victims of IFCSA (Intra-Family Child Sexual Abuse). It even inquiries regarding direct and indirect factors contributing to the silence around IFCSA. Further, it explores about available redressal mechanisms in reported cases where the alleged offender is a father, grandfather, sibling, cousin, relative, live-in partner of the mother and any other person who shares the same household (either permanently or temporarily) and has a position of trust (not including the service providers, etc.). The first-hand data includes immediate responses of members of family and community, the Government, and Civil society organizations. This work also briefs about the social mechanisms available for providing support to the IFCSA victims and available legislative safeguards. Lastly, this study apprises the readers about practical measures for the prevention and control of this kind of abuse.