WOMEN SPEAK UP
True stories of child sex abuse from the heart of India
Shipra* was 13 when she saw her father sexually abusing her 18-month-old sister. He responded by dragging Shipra to another room and beating her.
“I would see him molesting my sister every morning. Each time I tried to pull her away, I got beaten,” she says. She tried to persuade her mother not to leave her sister alone with their father, but was too scared of him to say why.
And then one day little Prathma* stopped speaking. “My sister was alone with my father when we heard a sudden shout. We rushed there to find my father moving out of the room. She never spoke again,” says Shipra.
Prathma’s trauma ended when her mother witnessed the abuse. Her father left home. Shipra had to drop out of school and work as domestic help to support the family. “Still, we were happy to see him go,” she says.
Shipra had her mother’s support, but many abused children are abandoned or ignored by their families.
Kriti Prakash, 32, was six when she was sexually abused by an uncle.
“It happened when my aunt was in hospital to deliver a baby. I grew up all of a sudden,” Prakash says. “I didn’t understand what was happening. All I felt was pain. I still recall that moment vividly. When he was done, he dropped me home.”
Her mother told her to forget it. “How could I forget? I remained stuck in that night of December 25, 1990,” she says.
Her trauma continued because he continued to visit the family. “He would seek me out in public and I had no choice but to be civil. I got depressed. I wanted to end my life, but decided to resist.”
Prakash made up her mind she would not be ashamed of what was done to her and told the man she would marry about the assault. “My husband became my pillar of strength and motivated me to begin doing social work and helping other abuse survivors,” she says. “My mother is proud that I’m helping women and
children.”
COURAGE UNDER FIRE
Prakash recounted her story at the seventh edition of the HT Woman Awards in Lucknow, on May 14. The awards focused on child sex abuse to drive social and policy action.
“85% of victims are abused by family members and close relatives and only 25% of cases are reported; FIRs are registered in only 3%,” said UP health minister Siddharthnath Singh, speaking at the event. “The time has come that each mother should instil in each child the mindset that they should speak up.”
Children usually don’t speak up because of fear or shame, and when they do, often they are silenced, says Sangeeta Sharma, member of the Uttar Pradesh government’s Child Welfare Committee.
Strict laws are in place to curb such crimes. In India, cases of child sexual abuse are dealt with under the stringent Protection of Children against Sexual Abuse (POCSO) Act, which prescribes a minimum of 7 years and a maximum of life in prison. If the crime is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority, the minimum sentence is 10 years.
“Child sexual abuse is quite rampant, but the reporting and investigation of this crime needs to be improved,” said deputy inspector general of police (Lucknow) with the Central Bureau of Investigation, GK Goswami. (* Names changed on request)