According to the latest Child Welfare Committee observation, more than 80 per cent of child sexual abuse is committed by family members

For most us, family is our bane of support. But for 15-year-old Rekha (name changed to protect her identity) from east Delhi, her kin proved to be her biggest enemy.

Rekha was raped by her stepfather Saurav (name changed) with support from her uncle and aunt. The teenager even mustered the courage to file an FIR against her father, but later withdrew the charges; and as experts reason, most probably because she was forced by her family.

"Around six cases of children being sexually abused are brought to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which helps them to register FIRs but during trials, most of them take back the charges," said one official of CWC, wishing anonymity.
Rekha too stayed at the CWC home and according to officials there, she was traumatized when she first arrived.

Officials said Rekha filed the FIR on August 4, 2009 against her stepfather Saurav, an uncle and an aunt who lived with her in the same house. Allegedly, Saurav had raped her several times and used to beat her with sticks and tongs, while his brother and his sister-in-law supported him.

Rekha said they abused her verbally too and threatened her not to disclose her trauma. But reportedly, Rekha was shattered when one day, her uncle planned to push her into prostitution. Rekha asked her school principal for help and registered a case under IPC Section of 376, 323, 354, and 509/34 .

The police sent her to the CWC home, where she spent five months. But during the trail on December 22, 2009 she retracted her statement and said her father was angry because she had spilt milk and slept till late in the morning. All the three accused were released on January 2, 2010. Child rights activists can't hide their surprise at her volte face.

"The day we accompanied Rekha to CWC for counseling, she was a shattered girl. Now I flabbergasted to know she has denied the allegations she had made. I don't understand how the court could send her back to the same house where she had been abused," said Bharti Ali, director of HAQ Center for Child Rights.