A couple undergoing fertility treatment has petitioned Bombay high court to permit them to complete their surrogacy procedure that they had begun before the new Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act and Surrogacy Act were brought in.

Noting that the gang-rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in Ramesh Nagar in 2012 was done in the most “brutal and diabolic manner”, the Delhi high court on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment (for the remainder of their natural lives) to three persons convicted of the crime.

The order came while a division bench was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by a 23-year-old woman on Monday, seeking the court’s help in finding her same-sex partner.

The report highlighted the alarming figures and information on child sexual abuse in India. Social taboo and stigma attached to child sexual abuse and lack of faith in the system’s ability to respond and deliver emerged as key factors that kept children away from reporting abuse.

This study attempts to look at the extent, causes, manifestation and the interventions made on trafficking of children in the country.