Activists and policy-makers agree that sexual violence against the girl child begins at home and that, contrary to the accepted beliefs, occurs in all strata of the society. Moreover, the abuser is generally a member of the family or a relative or acquaintance in a position of exercising power and authority with the family. This and other factors that make girls children of a lesser god, were thrashed out at a workshop here.

Sarala Gopalan, former secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development, described sexual violence against the girl child as an alarming phenomenon. ``Socially we have not become sensitised on this issue, especially rape of girls by relatives and rape of young domestics,'' she pointed out, while addressing the four-day workshop recently. Sensitisation of the issue and education of men was essential as they make a majority of the decisions at home, she added.

According to a study undertaken by Sakshi, an NGO providing counselling services to women victims of violence, 60 per cent of the 650 school girls interviewed by them suffered abuse, 20 per cent of them by close relatives. Findings of the study, which were presented at the workshop, revealed that at least two out of four girls and one out of six boys suffered some form of abuse. It also cited a study undertaken by DCP S B K Singh in North-East Delhi which found that 85 per cent of rape cases registered in 1997 involved close relatives.

The workshop, which is being organised by the Indian Social Institute, commenced on April 21.

Yamin Hazarika, DCP, Crime Against Women's Cell, said cases of incest, rape were now increasingly being reported as a result of awareness among the mothers. A total of 15 cases of incest and rape had been reported during the past four months, she added.

However, majority of the cases ended in acquittal as the complainant herself turned hostile and withdrew the case due to several social pressures, Hazarika pointed out. Giving an analysis of rape cases, she said till date a total of 543 cases were registered in the Capital of which 495 ended in the acquittal.

``We try to dispense with rape cases quickly but what causes delay are the medical and forensic reports,'' she said. In order to ease the trauma of the victim instructions were also clear that a woman officer should be present at the time of lodging an FIR. Unfortunately, this often does not happen because there just are not enough women in the force.

Elaborating, she said, women officers did not work round-the-clock, nor were they trained to deal with investigations involving rape. Interestingly, when the police commissioner had wanted to post a woman SHO in each of the nine districts in Delhi, no woman officer had volunteered for the post, the DCP said.

Javita Narang of Sakshi was critical of the legal response. Conceding that high grade officers were often sensitised to the issue, she said, very rarely will a woman be allowed access to an SHO. She will have to meet a constable who is generally dismissive and refuses to file an FIR. Describing the laws as broad and wide, she said, they could be interpreted in different ways.

Gopalan underlined the need for gender-wise data segregation to know the exact situation of girls in different regions of the country. The Ninth Plan envisaged such gender-wise data, she said.

Observing that the social bias against the girl child became evident in the very first age group of 0 to six, she said, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) had made significant inroads in addressing this. Under the national plan of action for the girl child, the ICDS had several components for girls' health and nutrition, including a scheme for adolescent girls which she claimed had enabled many girls to withstand parental pressure for early marriage.

But the desired results had not been met in the educational field. Enrollment of girls in primary school was still negligible as parents felt it was unnecessary for girls to have education, it was unsafe and not proper to leave them with male teachers and there were no sanitary facilities. In cases where girls were enrolled, they dropped out at the age of seven or eight to supplement the responsibilities of the mother at home, she added.

The Sakshi counsellor said women and girls were constantly judged by society and made to feel morally responsible for acts of abuse against them. As part of efforts to sensitise the public against sexual abuse of children, the NGO undertakes workshops at schools on sex education. The entry into schools is not easy as the authorities and parents alike feel we are trying to bring in western ideas. But we want to show that it is precisely this attitude of parents and society which is making the children vulnerable to blackmail and exploitation by child abusers, she said.