The Ministry is said to be working on an Offence Against Children (Prevention) Bill which is expected to be brought before Parliament during the monsoon session. The proposed Bill aims to define child abuse offence in a far more comprehensive manner.

Focusing on five forms of abuse, the study found that in both rural and urban areas, 48.4% of girls wished they were boys, a pointer to the discrimination they faced in family and society.

In case of sexual abuse, more than half the child respondents (53.22%) reported facing one or more forms of sexual abuse, either in the form of sexual assault or some kind of sexual advances. Almost 21% respondents admitted to severe forms of sexual abuse — fondling of private parts, exhibiting private parts or being photographed nude. Of these, 6% reported to have been sexually assaulted.

Across different ages, the severest form of sexual abuse victims turned out to be children in the age group 11-16 while instances declined between age 16-18 years. Seventy three per cent of sexual abuse victims were in the age group 11-18.

About 69% of children said they had faced physical abuse by way of beating, burning, kicking or had been harmed otherwise. Almost 65 % of physical abuse victims were children in the age group 5-12.

Almost half the children in the country have suffered emotional abuse in the form of verbal, mental abuse or some kind of humiliation like girl-child neglect. In this case too, the largest victims of emotional abuse (47%) were children in the age group 5-12.

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