We all are aware of the recent Badlapur case in Maharashtra which trembled the whole nation where a sweeper employee (age 23) sexually abused two girls aged three and four in the school washroom.
This is just one exposition that brought the nation into the daylight, but many remain to unfold. In India, at each home, there is at least one child victim who has gone through this. The child of the age between 10- 18 is the predictor of this heinous crime. The most shocking fact is that the accused are none other than their relatives, teachers, doctors, or neighbors who have physically abused them.
“I was alone in my room playing with a toy, and one of my uncles from my maternal side came, locked the room, and forced me to touch his penis and taste it”, “ I reached early in the bus after the school when the bus driver started showing me porn from his phone”- experienced shared by the girls occurred when they were 13 and 11 years old, respectively. Even I also have been the prayer of sexual harassment when I was at the age of 14 by an orthopedic!
The overwhelming sense of terror and fear among these children is said to spiral into more severe mental and physical health issues over time. Without adequate support or intervention, what begins as an internal struggle can snowball into acute disorders, leaving children vulnerable and unassisted in coping with their challenges.
Taking this into account Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act was introduced in 2012 where exploiting a child sexually, pornographically, or penetratively is a punishable offence. The policemen in this case act as protectors to the child and the child must be treated as friendly as it can through the process. The primary focus of this lies that the child must be shielded from any kind of physical, mental, emotional, or psychological abuse. Additionally, arrangements for counseling programs in school can further eliminate the hesitation in the child’s mind to share with others.
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