Description

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a heinous crime and a serious violation of children’s rights. Child sexual abuse encompasses a range of physical acts, including sexual assault, rape, and non-penetrative contact such as unwanted touching. It also includes activities such as watching or capturing sexual pictures of children, engaging them in sexual acts, forcing them to engage in sexually inappropriate behaviors, or grooming them in order to abuse them. The main reason for targeting children in sexual abuse is because they possess comparatively inferior positions in the family as well as in society, and hence, they feel uncomfortable sharing their sufferings, which results in delayed or nondisclosure of such events. Surveys and studies of CSA in Bangladesh indicate how rapidly it is spreading in society. The children are not only unsafe outside but also get preyed in their own houses and schools. Although Bangladesh is facilitated with necessary tools to combat CSA, they are not adequate compared with the demand. Moreover, the taboo regarding disclosing any event of sexual abuse makes it more difficult to get the real picture of CSA. This paper aims to identify the reasons behind the increasing rate of Child Sexual Abuse in Bangladesh from socio-legal and psychological perspectives by analysing the interviews taken with a number of victims who are now adults. This article aims to identify the gaps in the law that make the current system insufficient in preventing these offences. It also explores how social traditions and legal systems can be reformed to address and prevent such abuse and encourage victims to come forward and speak out about their experiences.

Keywords: Child Sexual Abuse, Socio-Legal Perspective, Children’s Rights, Legal System.