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[NEW DELHI, 25 July 2007] - The Indian federal government has launched an investigation into the case of a 10-year-old boy who was allegedly sexually abused daily for three months by a teacher and two employees at his New Delhi school, a newspaper has reported. The inquiry marks the first time the federal government has overseen a child abuse investigation. It was launched by Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury, whose ministry in April released a study that found more than half of children in India are sexually abused. Chowdhury said the boy was sodomised daily for three months last year, the Hindustan Times reported. "This is one of the most horrifying cases that has ever come to my notice," Chowdhury said. "When a child so young is the victim of sexual abuse, the system cannot be so helpless as not to react." The boy's parents discovered the abuse after he fell sick and they took him to the hospital, where doctors determined that he was being abused, Chowdhury told the newspaper. Two of the men have been arrested, but police are still searching for the third employee, the newspaper reported. The suspects' names were not released. More than 53 per cent of children in India are sexually abused, but most don't report the assaults, according to the April study. It was the first-ever national-level study, covering 13 of India's 28 states with a sample size of 12,447 children in the 5-12 age group, and 2,324 young adults. Chowdhury's office is working on a new children's rights law to stiffen punishment against offenders. Further information
pdf: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/25/asia/AS-GEN-India-Child-Sex-Ab...