“My Father Would Beat Me, But My Mother Will Do Worse”

The Ministry of Women and Child Development released a study that laid out India’s struggles with child abuse in stark terms. “Child abuse is shrouded in secrecy and there is a conspiracy of silence around the entire subject,” the report, called ‘Study on Child Abuse’, reads. “Further, certain kinds of traditional practices that are accepted across the country, knowingly or un-knowingly amount to child abuse.”

While there are many stories that revolve around this secrecy, the future for abused children is bleak; however, it is not impossible with the existence of initiatives like Childline India Foundation, which functions as a national organization for awareness, advocacy and training on issues of child abuse.