There has been open abuse of children in a number of ways in India. Girls in early teens in Hyderabad are married to Sheikhs from Arab countries. It went to such an extent that the Waqf Board had to ask the Moulvis to bring such pending marriages to the notice of the board before solemnizing them.
The abuse of girls on the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka where girl child is offered to the temple of goddess Yellamma as Devadasi is nothing less than throwing her to the flesh market. The harassment of both male and female child in the bonded market is well known. Both are sexually assaulted by the employer and the contractor. Same is the story of girls in the tribal belt where the child is a prey for the forest employers, contractors and even government servants.
The condition of children both male and female is worst in city slums, footpath dwellings and Indian jails. They are sexually exploited by the slum, dadas—even neighbors in the slums and on footpaths in metropolitan cities. Since there are not many juvenile jails in India most of the child convicts are kept in regular jails. Sexual abuse is a regular feature. Hard core convicts and jail staff satisfy their sexual lust on these children. Eighties saw a new type of child abuse. There was a spree of child adoption by foreigners from developed-countries on humanitarian grounds. In due course it was found that in many cases these children had to work as household servants. Where can one find such a cheap commodity? In some cases it was also found that the children became sexual targets of their adopters. Government of India and the Mission of charity had to put many restrictions on this adopting business.
Nineties began with the most ignoble type of abuse. Even child abuse has taken a sophisticated turn in this age of sophistication. One can have or transmit the most sophisticated knowledge on latest inventions and technology across the world in milliseconds through Cyberspace and Internet-information systems. There are a large number of files on the computer-based bulletin board information system. It is in operation in all developed countries. A farmer, a scientist or a musician, even a housewife can secure information from a file in the bulletin network on the computer and can have its printout on a laser writer or any other printer one has access to. It is just like having a photocopy as you have of a reservation ticket or a computerized article.
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This useful and most beneficial system has been now used for the satisfaction of the basest pleasure—the sexual vision and perception—not indulgence of course. Paedophiles (those who indulge in sexual abuse of children) have introduced their own files in these bulletins. If the number of the files is known any one can have the meanest enjoyment of child pornography on their sets and can acquire the prints too. There is a network of paedophiles in the underdeveloped countries. They would take the photographs or films of children who have been forced to indulge in sex with other children or even adults. These are transmitted to the bulletin files. This abuse was formerly arranged with small children in Sri Lanka. Beautiful beaches there are—the happy hunting grounds for western paedophiles. The same has been done by these mean people in Thailand ‘ and Phillipines. Now it is the turn of India on a very large scale. The paedophiles have inserted two files (might be more by the time you go through this write up) on India named ‘family’ and ‘India’.
The biggest centre of these activities is Copenhagen, a beautiful port in Denmark. There pornography (pictures showing naked people in sexual indulgence) is legal. There are checks only on sexual abuse below the age of consent. The age of consent is 15. Thus pornographic pictures and films of children of Denmark above 15 are not illegal. But in the case of children of undeveloped countries there are no norms. Their pornographic pictures are shown and enjoyed openly. The moral malady is expected to spread in other European countries too. India being a poor country anyone can be exploited here.
Poor Indian children are easy prey to the evil designs of the paedophiles. When and how they manage to have the pornographic material is yet to be traced. The government does not seem inclined to do anything in this respect in the modern atmosphere of liberalization.