Difficult for rural children to speak up about sex abuse: Kovind

New Delhi, Oct 16 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday said it is difficult for children who grow up in a rural environment to get redressal for acts of sexual abuse they face.

Kovind said that those who live in a rural setting face a hard time on every step of their lives and that in an instance of abuse, at times, even their parents contribute towards keeping the acts of sexual abuse under wraps due to fear of getting outcast from society.

He was speaking at a march, undertaken to raise awareness against the menace of child abuse, by Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi's foundation which ended its 35-day, 11,000 km journey on Monday.

The march called 'Bharat Yatra' was started on September 11 from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and went up as far as Kashmir in north. During its entire course, it covered 22 states and Union Territories.

"Agar ye aandolan chalega to sahi maayne me rashtra nirmaan yehi hai (If this movement succeeds then this would be the true nation-building).

"Ek bhi bachcha agar asurakshit hai, to hum sab usme doshi hain (If even one child is unsafe, then we all are to blame)," Kovind added.

Satyarthi said the march was a "silent war" against fear of child abuse.

"You have awaken the soul of the country. Each step has created history," he said at the function.

"It is war against fear, it is a war against apathy and inaction and silence," he added.

War against sexual abuse on children can only be won when there are legal deterrents in place and allocation of resources for children's well-keep, he said.

"We have to have preventive measures," he added.

The child rights crusader said that if the exploitation of children stops now and there are no new cases, it would still take 10 years to dispose of all such cases pending in courts.