SPECIAL REPORT | Patricia could feel her father's eyes on her as she walked to the bathroom. The feeling was not strange; for her, it was routine.

Her father has been watching her bathe since her mother passed away when she was eight years old. The bathroom door would be kept wide open.

In some ways, Patricia (not her real name) believed it was because her father was concerned for her safety. Her mother had died from injuries sustained after a fall in the bathroom. The incident shattered their peaceful life.

When she turned 15, Patricia fell in love and the young couple started intimate relations. This was when she questioned her father’s actions of continuing to watch her bathe.

Patricia was one of the victims counselled by Protect and Save the Children, a child rights advocacy organisation.

“The teenage girl didn’t know that this was not appropriate until she went into a relationship. The boundary is blurred,” said Protect and Save the Children founder Madeleine Yong...