Larissa Pitter, a social worker who monitors Child Sexual Abuse cases in Mumbaii, then presents the other point of view, the practical one, ‘Suppose those social workers had decided to go with the case and have the man arrested, who would stay with such a case for the five years or more it takes for it to come up in court? And which non-government organization would guarantee counselling for that child for all those years it needs to be taken to court?’

Deepika D’Souza, director of the India Centre for Human Rights and Law, thoughtfully makes what is the most crucial point of all: ‘In all this, that little living, breathing and frightened child gets completely lost.

On no account must that child get lost.

Under no circumstances must that child’s right be submerged.

To ensure this a penal policy needs to be established that removes from circulation child sexual abusers because they represent a long-term risk to the child population in India. This, in turn, would also deter potential abusers. It is widely recognized that compulsory child abuse reporting laws in both the United States of America and the United Kingdom have led to professional alertness and intervention, and this has led to even greater public awareness. Most states in Australia and Malaysia are required to report known and suspected cases to the local child protective services agency. In the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg there is a ‘confidential doctor’ within the health care system who receives notification of all forms of maltreatment. All of this has meant that treatments to children once being hidden or considered acceptable in homes have become unacceptable and the more severe forms of maltreatment are thrown into sharper relief.

The laws need to be amended, so that every limb of the legal system and every court in the country acknowledges Child Sexual Abuse. But after the laws are amended, far more needs to be looked into; or else the amended laws can turn into toothless tigers.

India’s police needs to professionally open its umbrella to be truly child-inclusive, child-assist and child-friendly. ‘Sympathetic police support must be ensured,’ points out Dr Kiran Bedi who has set up a foundation to guide the children of prisoners through their formative years; information on Child Sexual Abuse is regularly imparted to these children.

Child Protection Units (CPU) must be set up in each city of the country; centrally monitored and updated by a senior police officer like perhaps Dr Bedi herself. (No, in this book it is not she who has thought of the idea of CPUs for India nor does she know of her name being suggested as a CPU Chief.) The Child Protection Units would handle all cases against children by adults, be they sexual, physical or emotional. Such Child Protection Units don’t need too much of an investment: one brightly-painted room, one working telephone and smartly turned-out police officers who are conversant with English, Hindi and their state’s language. Not just-hired constables who have enlisted in the police because they cannot get a job elsewhere, not women constables simply because they are women; but police officers who at least look like they can win the war against all forms of child abuse, including sexual and physical. It is of the essence that these police officers be educated beyond the standard tenth level; not just literate but educated because they are going to be dialoguing with children and their parents from all classes, not simply those from the slums.