Maneka backs plea on male child sexual abuse

New Delhi, April 25

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday extended her support to a petition by a filmmaker-activist who said “male child sexual abuse is an ignored reality in India”.

Maneka, in a reply to the petition, said that a first-of-its-kind study on male survivors of child sexual abuse would be conducted.

“Another much neglected sphere of child sexual abuse is male survivors. Child sexual abuse (CSA) is gender neutral. Boys who are sexually abused as children spend a lifetime of silence because of the stigma and shame attached to male survivors speaking out. It is a serious problem and needs to be addressed,” she said in her response to the petition on Change.org by filmmaker Insia Dariwala. 

The minister said that following the petition, she had in September 2017 instructed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to look into the issue. The NCPCR held a conference in this regard in November last year.

“As per the recommendations that emerged from the conference, it was unanimously decided that there should be an amendment to the existing scheme for the victims of CSA to also include compensation for boys who have been sexually abused or raped,” she said.

During this conference, the NCPCR studied a preliminary research conducted by Dariwala, which included 160 male survivors of sexual abuse from across the country. — PTI