Several years ago I visited India to warn of an impending endemic of HIV/AIDS heading there and to Maharashtra in particular. I went to Poona and met an intelligent and honest Parsi, Dr Keki Grant, at Ruby Hall. He indicated that 80 percent of the brothels in Bombay were infected as was one percent of the Indian population. I met a Jain doctor in Bombay who informed me that the numbers of infected persons was the same in all communities in Bombay and that community leaders even in minority communities were in denial.
Today, I am reading a book based on three surveys conducted from 2007 to 2010 by both Indian and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) organizations as well as NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) which show that child sexual abuse is rampant. Fifty-three to 57 percent of all children in India are sexually abused. That is more than 50 percent of all Indians. The offender is often an uncle, a neighbor, a cousin, a teacher, a family member. Of those abused, 57 percent are boys from the English speaking middle class. Seventy-six percent of women said they have been abused by those known to them. The numbers for the Parsi community must be within these norms since Parsis are Indians.
I have approached the Zoroastrian Association of Chicago to include sex education at our religious institutions for such actions are wrong, as indicated in our scriptures. We must protect children, whether in India or the USA.
I have been reading your magazine which has been in total denial regarding this issue. If you need references for the studies I refer to, I would be glad to forward them to you or to readers as they are listed in child exploitation in India in a book released this June called India With Tough Love by Jaya Kamlani (
kamlanij@yahoo.com).
The editors reply
Parsiana is well aware of the dangers of HIV and the sexual exploitation of children. Had any studies on this subject concerning the community been published, we would have certainly featured the material.