The Hindu Council UK (HCUK) has called for a national public inquiry into sexual-grooming gangs across the UK, strongly condemning the evil crimes done by the sexual-grooming gangs. The organisation has called it “a matter of great concern” that groups of men groom children and girls to sexually abuse them.
This comes after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips formally rejected repeated requests for a Home Office-led inquiry into the historic child sexual abuse scandal in Oldham which has reignited political and public discourse.
Krishna Bhan, Chair, Hindu Council UK said, “In January 2011, the conspiracy of silence about the mass grooming of girls in some UK towns was revealed by the Times. Three years later the first inquiry into this scandal found that about 1400 children fell victim to predators in one English town alone.
“It is the prime responsibility of the Government to safeguard and protect children and young people against these heinous crimes. It is high time the UK criminal justice system stops failing the vulnerable young girls getting victimised by predatory men. The scandal of these grooming gangs should be fully investigated, and the Home Office adopt a consistent way of tracking the disgusting and vile practice.
“We request the Government to fully investigate the sexual grooming of girls across the UK by holding a national public inquiry, so that efforts can be made to bring justice to the victims, if it can ever be fully done considering the lasting effects of this trauma on the children, young girls and their parents.”
The scandal, involving grooming, trafficking, and abusing girls and children over a decade ago, has gained renewed attention after criticism from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of failing to address the issue during his tenure as the UK’s top prosecutor. Musk labelled Starmer "complicit in the rape of Britain" and called for his resignation. He also accused Jess Phillips of being a "rape genocide apologist" and calling for her imprisonment.
In response, Starmer defended his leadership as Director of Public Prosecutions (2008–2013). He asserted that he had confronted the issue directly, overseeing the first major prosecution of grooming gangs and achieving record numbers of child sexual abuse cases being prosecuted during his term.
A call for action, not more inquiries
The grooming gangs scandal first came to light with a 2014 report that conservatively estimated over 1,400 girls were sexually exploited in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Many victims were known to local services due to their status as children in care or victims of neglect.
The report detailed horrifying accounts of girls as young as 11 being raped by multiple men. Local officials, however, often deemed the abuse as consensual sexual activity. The majority of perpetrators were identified as being of Pakistani heritage, but authorities hesitated to address the ethnic dimension of the crimes, fearing accusations of racism or risks to community cohesion.
A separate investigation into Oldham similarly criticised police and local councils for their failures but concluded that no systematic cover-up had taken place. Professor Alexis Jay, who chaired the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) has stated that a new inquiry is unnecessary. She emphasised that the government should focus on implementing the recommendations of previous investigations to address systemic failures effectively. Prof Jay said there had already been a delay of more than two years in implementing her independent inquiry into child sexual abuse report and that “the time has passed for more inquiries”.
“We have learned quite a lot from those reviews that have already been undertaken. But locally, people need to step up to the mark and do the sorts of things that have been recommended,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I think there are something like 400 recommendations that we identified … in all the reviews that had already been carried out, and many of those were simply not met.
In agreement with Prof Jay’s views, Gabrielle Shaw, CEO of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), on behalf of IICSA Changemakers told Asian Voice, "Victims and survivors gave seven years of energy and expertise to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. This report was completed over two years ago and yet we are still waiting for recommendations to be delivered.
"We must remember that at the heart of this debate is horrific child sexual abuse, with sometimes life-long repercussions.
"As IICSA Changemakers, we urge the Government to focus on delivering improvements for child victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse rather than proposing new inquiries that may potentially delay action even further."
A spokesperson for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said, “It is a horrifying reality that, each year, around 500,000 children in England and Wales will experience some form of sexual abuse.
“But abuse can be prevented and stopped and – with the right support – those who’ve experienced the trauma of child sexual abuse can recover and rebuild their lives. These are the lessons from the extensive, seven-year national inquiry conducted by Prof Alexis Jay, which heard from thousands of victims and survivors.
“The NSPCC participated in nine of the fifteen investigations conducted by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), and we welcomed the insights in the final report. We’re pleased to see the Government’s commitment to respond to the evidence IICSA comprehensively set out and to develop a robust action plan to address the findings.
“Victims, survivors, and the children who are experiencing, or at risk of, sexual abuse today need urgent action to take forward IICSA’s work and ensure change comes as quickly as possible.”
The debate over 'Asian' label
Another persistent issue lies in the reporting and representation of this scandal, particularly the use of the term "Asian" to describe the perpetrators. This broad categorisation unfairly stereotypes and stigmatises all Asian men, perpetuating harmful generalisations.
There is speculation that Labour ministers are hesitant to explicitly identify the perpetrators as "British Pakistani," as noted in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) report. This reluctance is reportedly driven by concerns over being labelled Islamophobic, especially in light of strong challenges posed by independent Muslim candidates in the 2024 elections.
Krishna Bhan, commenting on this issue,said, “Hindu Council UK has long campaigned to the media for not using the word ‘Asian’ to describe these gangs as our Hindu and Sikh girls were also their victims and given the present lash-back on the ‘X’ platform, the BBC, finally refrained from using the word Asian in their news reports for a more accurate description of the gangs, but we are dismayed that the Prime Minister still chose to whitewash this heinous atrocity with the word ‘Asian’ in his press conference.”
Providing another perspective, Professor Aisha K. Gill, Ph.D. FRSA CBE, Professor of Criminology at University of Bristol and the Head of Centre for Gender and Violence Research told Asian Voice, “The research I have undertaken over the last decade suggests that South Asian ‘grooming’ gangs have received disproportionate media coverage at the expense of other, similar cases involving mostly white perpetrators and/or minoritised victims. This skewed media reporting has fuelled a moral panic by linking ethnicity to child sexual exploitation. In so doing, it overlooks the complexity of these cases, favouring ethnicity over the broader statistics and causal socioeconomic factors—such as poverty and neglect—that are often at the root of sexual exploitation (see Cockbain & Tufail, 2020).”
She further added, “An additional danger is that giving disproportionate attention to a minority of offenders distracts from child sexual abuse as a whole, which means that opportunities to identify and address the majority of cases perpetrated by white men are lost in the polemic discourse over South Asian men. Many of these cases are already likely to remain hidden because of the tendency for these crimes to go unreported
“Raising moral outrage over the issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation is a matter of priority, but it should be achieved without recourse to racial stereotyping—this is helpful to no one, least of all the victims of such crimes.”
Mandatory reporting and tougher sentencing proposed
Calls for a national inquiry also gained traction among opposition figures, including Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party. Media reports revealing the government's suggestion for Oldham council to lead its own investigation have further fuelled demands for a broader inquiry.
A few weeks ago, discussions on this issue were virtually non-existent. However, a notable shift occurred as the government, seemingly prompted by recent events, announced plans to act on some of the recommendations from previous inquiries. Yvette Cooper, addressing the Commons, pointed out that none of the 20 recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) had been implemented to date. She also defended her Home Office colleague Jess Phillips' decision to deny Oldham Council’s request for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, arguing that such inquiries should be conducted locally instead.
Cooper revealed that the upcoming crime and policing bill, expected this spring, will include mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse. Professionals who fail to report or attempt to conceal such crimes will face criminal and professional penalties.
The bill will also introduce legislation making grooming an aggravating factor in sentencing for child sexual offences. Additionally, ministers pledged to reform the collection and use of information and evidence related to child sexual abuse and exploitation. This will be embedded in a new performance framework for policing to ensure these crimes receive the attention and seriousness they deserve.
This marks significant progress, considering that for over a decade, politicians have largely confined their responses to social media posts, tweeting and retweeting without implementing meaningful action.
Despite multiple investigations into child abuse scandals in northern England and a wider public inquiry concluding in 2022, the recommendations from these inquiries remain largely unimplemented. The Labour government, led by Starmer since July 2024, vowed to accelerate the implementation of these recommendations.
The Conservatives also faced scrutiny over why none of the IICSA recommendations had been actioned, with excuses ranging from the disruption caused by the election to other challenges. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp argued that the IICSA inquiry had mainly focused on other aspects of child sexual abuse and exploitation, addressing only six of the towns involved in the gang rape scandal. He demanded a "national statutory public inquiry" with the power to compel witnesses, requisition evidence, and take testimonies under oath.
One must not forget that while the current government is responsible for the past six months, the Conservatives are accountable for the last ten years.
