Child sexual abuse: Câmon kids, letâs make the devil sweat!
Our current edition looks at a very serious and present issue affecting our children and young adults: Child Sexual Abuse. We bring you the front page of the running issue. The edit page has a note for parents on how to deal with a situation where their children reports to them about sexual abuse. Hereâs the full text of the cover story:
The Shepherd of Readersburg: What if you are walking in the park in your apartment society premises and the gardener hits you on your hand while he walks past you? You will react by being angry. You may even yell at him for hurting you, isnât it? Or you may even run up to him and hit him or get the grownups hanging out there to do the honours on behalf of you. Then, you will come home and tell your entire family about it. The family may take it up to the management and lead to official action against the gardener. He may even be sacked.Â
Now letâs get to something much more serious. We will begin by telling you about how a girl of around your age was severely attacked by 17 men, including men as old as her grandfather and father. This happened in Chennai. They kept violating her frequently for seven months.Â
A 66-year-old man, Ravi Kumar, who was the lift operator in the building in which this little girl lives in an apartment with her parents, was the first one to violate her. Then one by one, the other lift operators, plumbers, electricians, a housekeeping employee and the gardener joined in. They mixed drugs in soft drinks and made her drink these spiked drinks. When she was unconscious, they touched her body, they violently touched her private parts and made her touch theirs. This is called sexual assault or rape. This leaves children mentally scarred for life.
The 66-year-old man took the 12-year-old hearing-impaired girl to isolated places within the apartment building like gym, public washrooms, terrace etc as soon as she got off the school bus. Her mom would think she got late because she stopped by to play with her friends. The men made videos of their violent acts and threatened the girl that they would show the videos to everyone if she told anyone about it.
Last Saturday, on 13 July, the girl had severe pain in her stomach. She told her elder sister about the pain and then told her about how these men had been violating her over the past 7 months. Her sister lives in Delhi and was visiting home for a few days. The sister informed her parents and they reported the matter to the police. The violators have been arrested. Â
Itâs outrageous! Itâs sick! And this is not the first time that a child has been violated this way. It happens quite frequently. Sometimes itâs the conductors and drivers or the school bus, sometimes a male teacher at school or a cousin or any other relative etc. And not just girls, even boys are sexually assaulted. Â
But why are we telling you all this? We do so because we want you safe. Because we want you protected. And how? Should you get scared and stop going out? But what if someone breaks in or someone inside the house is a perpetrator? So then should your parents hire bodyguards to accompany you all the time? Well, what if the bodyguard turns out to be a violator? Hey, we are not saying all men are bad, but the motto is: RESPECT ALL, TRUST NONE. So, the real deal is, WE WANT YOU TO BE BRAVE. BOLD. SMART. AND PROTECT YOURSELF.
Okay, forget yourself for a while and think of your favourite bag and, letâs say, it has a lot of money in it one day which your mom gave you to pay the tuition teacher. You stop by at a park on your way to the tuition to meet a friend. Would you leave this bag just like that on your cycle trusting everyone around and thinking they would not steal it? Definitely not! So why should you trust anyone and let them touch your body? Your body is your most priced possession! You have to keep it safe.Â
So what should be done? Well, the best way to protect yourself is to make yourself smarter and stronger. EQUIP YOURSELF! First, no need to talk to strangers no matter how sweet they are to you. Then, a young bhaiyya or an old uncle may have been visiting your house and may have known you and your family for years. But you donât need to venture out with them out of turn. No need to go out for an ice cream or a drive with them. Why do you need to? Go with your parents! And if they try to touch you in a certain way, if they try to touch the private parts of your body or ask you to touch theirs, SCREAM! YELL! BITE THEM! BEAT THEM! PUNCH THEM! RUNNNN!!! And KEEP SCREAMING AS YOU RUN AWAY! BE A COMPLETE BRAT! No need to be nice! And why? Remember, this person you are running away from is a predator and will attack you if you are nice to him Another thing, this perpetrator could be a relative as well. So donât hesitate to react even if itâs a cousin or any other relative. If they already touched you, no need to be scared of the threats. Go and tell your mom, your sister, your brother, your dad, or your teacher if she is close to you. DO IT RIGHT NOW!
After this, after you have made a scene and told your family about it, this same attacker may become so sweet and try to look so innocent that it will be hard for anyone to believe he was trying to do something so obnoxious like sexually attacking a child. But you have seen his other side and you know exactly what happened. So you donât have to start feeling sorry or doubting yourself. You, and your safety, come first. DONâT EVER GET CARRIED AWAY! If they wanted you to be nice to them, they should not have violated you. Simple!
Hey, psstt! Go, learn some taekwondoâŚkarate and go woosh! woosh! bang! if some sick-head tries to lay his hands on you. Yo! YET, FIRST, USE YOUR BRAINS to handle the situation and get away unhurt, untouched, and to bring the incident to the notice of your folks.
Š Copyright. All rights reserved. The Shepherd of Readerburg.
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