Child Abuse In Household & Schools In India: Legal Recourse To Rescue

Abstract

Abuse on any person in any form can never be justified. Children and adolescents are the most vulnerable people who are affected by such abuse. Children can suffer from abuse within the household or outside (corporal punishment, mental harassment, bullying in schools). Domestic violence or the violence behind closed doors is the worst form of abuse as the perpetrator is known and, in most cases, no one can come for help at the very moment. Any child who has experienced or seen such physical, mental or sexual abuse at home carries a scar for life. Home is always considered as the safe place but when such safe place fails to give a healthy and protected environment, children are the one who suffers the most. Domestic abuse means when the perpetrator of crime is from the victim’s family and is known to victim.  The perpetrator could be any one from the family. The term domestic violence and abuse on children means any incident or pattern of incidents in which a child is victim that means he or she has been injured either physically, sexually or emotionally or where he or she is the silent victim when such violence is performed on his or her parents or on any other family member and he or she is the witness. A child suffers in both the cases when he or she is the direct victim and when he or she is the indirect victim or silent victim. Whereas when it comes to schools, abuse can be of physical or mental form. Child abuse where inside or outside household is detrimental to the academic and psychological wellbeing of the child. In this paper an attempt is made to analyze the impact of abuse on the young mind and body and how Indian laws are dealing with these kinds of incidents by providing durable solutions.