NEW DELHI: Indian states are ignoring boys in compensating child victims of sexual abuse, the federal government said on Wednesday, weeks after the government itself was criticized for overlooking males in a new law mandating tougher punishment for rapes of girls.
“The male child, who is the most neglected victim of child sexual abuse, is being ignored for the award of compensation and needs to be included,” the Ministry of Women and Child Development said in a statement, citing letters sent to states on the issue.
States run centrally monitored programs to compensate victims of crimes including rape and human trafficking, but sexually abused boys were not getting any financial help, the ministry said.
The statement comes at a time when there is a debate around the treatment meted out to boy victims of sexual crimes in a country where, according to activists and police, many cases of abuse of boys go unreported because of the stigma attached to homosexuality.
A 2007 survey by the ministry, which sampled 12,447 children in families, schools, at work and living on the street, found that more than half had faced sexual abuse, and 53 percent of victims were boys.
Still, in an executive order issued last month, the government did not mention boys while introducing the death penalty for rape of girls below the age of 12 and increasing the minimum punishment for those whose victims were under 16.
To correct the anomaly, the government says it plans to introduce a “gender-neutral” legislation in the next session of parliament.
India says boy victims of sex crimes not compensated, ignored
India says boy victims of sex crimes not compensated, ignored
- A debate around the treatment meted out to boy victims of sexual crimes
Drone strikes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region kill one, injure another
- The senior Tigrayan official said the drone strikes hit two Isuzu trucks near Enticho and Gendebta
- The Ethiopian National Defense Force launched the strikes but did not provide evidence
ADDIS ABABA: One person was killed and another injured in drone strikes in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region on Saturday, a senior Tigrayan official and a humanitarian worker said, in another sign of renewed conflict between regional and national forces.
Ethiopia’s national army fought fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front for two years until late 2022, in a war researchers say killed hundreds of thousands through direct violence, the collapse of health care and famine.
Fighting broke out between regional and national forces in the disputed territory of western Tigray earlier this week, according to diplomatic and government sources.
The senior Tigrayan official said the drone strikes hit two Isuzu trucks near Enticho and Gendebta, two places in Tigray about 20 kilometers apart. A humanitarian worker confirmed the strikes had happened. Both asked not to be named.
The Tigrayan official said the Ethiopian National Defense Force launched the strikes but did not provide evidence.
A spokesperson for the ENDF did not respond to a request for comment.
It was not immediately clear what the trucks were carrying.
TPLF-affiliated news outlet Dimtsi Weyane posted pictures on Facebook which it said showed the trucks damaged in the strikes. It said the trucks were transporting food and cooking items.
Pro-government activists posting on social media said the trucks were carrying weapons.
Earlier this week national carrier Ethiopian Airlines canceled flights to Tigray, where residents rushed to try to withdraw cash from banks.
The Tigray war ended with a peace pact in November 2022, but disagreements have continued over a range of issues, including contested territories in western Tigray and the delayed disarmament of Tigray forces.
