The vulnerability of Children With Disability to Sexual Abuse

We, the activists of the disability movement welcomed the passage of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The reason behind this was the inclusion of several provisions which addressed children with disabilities within the Act and its Rules. Though sexual abuse of children with disabilities is a common occurrence, it was not acknowledged in the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995. However the law that replaced this legislation namely Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 mentions abuse and hasspecific clauses regarding the same.

In 2012, after the Delhi gangrape case (also known as the Nirbhaya case), the Government of India was forced to set up the Justice Verma Committee under public pressure. That gave the disability movement the first opportunity to address specific concerns of women with disabilities in policy. We presented this to Verma Committee. In our suggestions, we utilized the existent clauses of POCSO as a model. As a result, Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013 included several clauses addressing disabilities which are similar to POCSO.

So it can now be said that there are comprehensive legal provisions to protect children and women from sexual abuse in present-day India. Yet when we go to the field, we rarely see survivors getting access to justice. There are several factors why this is happening. I will narrate a few cases here to show how disabled children are unable to access justice in cases of sexual abuse.

In a case that we were attached to, a young girl living in a slum in Delhi was raped by a neighbour. When the police found that the girl was unable to speak, they called a Sign Language interpreter as per POCSO in order to record her statement. When we visited the girl, we realised that the police were mistaken. The girl was not hearing impaired. She could not speak due to her intellectual disabilities. And the police had confused one for the other.

It also occurred to us that it may not be easy for the police to even begin to understand the reasons as to why the child was not speaking. Her family members were not articulate about the kind of disability. The girl did not have a disability certificate. So even when it was a case of the police personnel trying to help the girl, they were unknowingly making a grave mistake- they were calling a Sign Language person to help someone who needed a Special Educator.

This mistake was the result of an utter lack of awareness on any disability issue within larger society. All this was happening in the capital of our country, so one can speculate to how aware people may be in other parts of the country. The Delhi police personnel confided to us that they have not been given any training on Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act. Basic information on disability is not part of curriculum of either police or judiciary.

During trials, POCSO allows for special educators to be appointed as support to disabled child victims of sexual offenses. However, a majority of special educators are not aware of this role. During a workshop with them, many special educators confided that they do not want to take up such duties if called by police. They felt that their role was in the class-room or within special schools. Working for cases of rape and sexual assault entails interactions with police, visiting courts etc and many of them resented doing the same. Also, their training does not include essential components of Comprehensive Sexuality Education. So it seemed like they were neither well-equipped to give emotional support to the survivor, nor were they ready to take the role of an “activist who works on sexual abuse”. Obviously, there are exceptions– but this gap in knowledge/empathy is being felt throughout the country.

In another case that we followed up in a village in West Bengal, the police were unfamiliar with the Act and its rules. When we pointed out to them that the law allows for videography of the victim child’s testimony, they said they did not possess the equipment to record the same. One police personnel suggested that he can record the disabled child’s testimony in his mobile phone for future use. This made us extremely anxious as a recording on a mobile phone can be misused in many ways.

The problems are manifold. There are no easy answers and solutions sometimes seem far off. However, some of us have worked hard to bring in changes in the laws and policies of our country. That was only the beginning. It is now time that we work to see that these laws are implemented in proper spirit.

Two major factors that we have to keep in mind are – child sexual abuse is still a taboo subject in our society and secondly, disability is a heterogeneous issue, about which very little knowledge exists among the general public. So when a child with disability is sexually abused, we walk through the whole gamut of denial. Making understanding disability & disability rights a component of police, judiciary and legal training is one way to solve the problem that can help ensure that justice is accessible and attainable for such children.

Equally important is including comprehensive sexuality education with components of handling sexual abuse cases as part of the training of Special Educators, Sign Language Interpreters and all professionals who work with children with disabilities. Majority of disabled children do not even have knowledge of names of body parts, and how to express themselves when touched inappropriately. Unless educators who teach them have knowledge of the same, they will not be able to impart it to children.

Most important is to believe children when they say that abuse has taken place – disabled children may have different ways of expressing themselves than their non-disabled counterparts: and we need to learn their ways of communication if we want to support them.

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY: Shampa Sengupta. She is an activist working on gender & disability issues. She is the founder of the advocacy group Sruti Disability Rights Centre and is also the Joint Secretary of National Platform for Rights of the Disabled.