Recently while addressing a group
of fellows of “Teach for India” I faced an interesting question, “when we as
individuals are ill equipped to address the issue of sexual offence, should we
report at all? Will it end up harming the child more, than helping?”
I was taken aback for a moment,
as these are thoughts that are plaguing me for the last few weeks consistently.
A few weeks back I was caught in
between a case of child sexual abuse in Gunupur, a small town in Odisha. The
father of the child an assistant professor had recently moved to this place.
After a lot of scouting the parents had found this school which was well
reputed for its educational standards.
For this 3 yr old it was the
first day in school. Like any other children, the child went to school in
bright spirits. But when the child came home, she was crying and profusely bleeding.
Went the mother checked up, the child’s vagina was torn. The parents rushed the
child to a private hospital, where the doctor told them that it was a case of sexual
assault and the child required a surgical process.
In an interesting manner the
matter came to my notice the next day. When I spoke to the parents they did
express their willingness to report. I spoke to Shri Rajesh Pundit, Superintendent Of Police,
Raygada, who turned out to be an extremely child friendly person. The case was booked under POSCO. Then
the challenge began, every step of the legal procedure the parents started resisting.
Their contention was, that it will re-traumatize the child.
For any legal procedure, apart
from the statement of the victim which will then form the First Information
Report(FIR), followed by a medical examination in a government hospital and the
consequent identification of the accused is more or less mandatory. But the
parents who were caring for this little one and were witnessing the various
levels of trauma the child was going through, found all this too much to
handle. In spite of the fact that
the police was making it as child friendly as possible(most of the time the lady
police went in mufti to their house, instead of calling to the police station
and tried to make it comfortable for the child), the parents were vocally quite
resistant.
I was caught between the police and
the parents. Every time the parents would resist, the police would call me and
I had to spend long hours counseling the family on the importance and need of
that step. The matter became even more complicated, when the medical report
revealed penetration of a blunt object (maybe fingers or fist, there is was no
smears of sperms which could be taken as an evidence). The parents had already
disposed of the child’s blood soaked under-wear out of ignorance. As usual all
the alleged accused maintained their stand of innocence. The only way to make an arrest was
identification by the child. An effort was made, by showing pictures of alleged
accused on a laptop to the child, with no clear results. Finally the only
option left was physical identification.
The family was in no mood to
entertain any such thing. Both the parents were upset, angry and frustrated as
the child was now showing signs of fever and was slowly withdrawing herself
from others.
After resisting for more than a
day finally the family relented and the child was taken for an identification
parade. It was done in the most child friendly manner, with the child sitting
in a room and through an outlet looking at all alleged accused. In all her
innocence, although the child pointed to one person conclusively as the “bad
man”, she also pointed out casually at three more persons. Arrest was made of the one person, who
till date denies having done that in spite of rigorous questioning of the
police. The fact remains however
that the child was sexually assaulted.
Was it a worthwhile effort to
subject the child through all this? After a few days of traumatic churning I
have come to the conclusion “yes it was”.
Firstly from a child’s perspective, in a few years from now when the
child remembers this traumatic episode, apart from the abuse, she will also
remember how her parents stood by her, encouraging her to stand up against any
violation and mostly that she did not do any “wrong” but she was wronged. This
is a precious understanding very few victims all over the world have the
privilege to experience, for in their silence they not only carry the shame but
also a repeated reinforced message of being guilty of the crime committed on
them.
Further her images of the police
will not be that which evokes fear but that of support and safety. More than
anything, she will grow up with the security of being heard and trusted.
From a social perspective, I am
not sure who was the real culprit or whether the real culprit was actually
caught, but whoever is the real culprit he will know people are not going to
keep quite. The message is not only going to culprit in this case, but also to
sex offenders living in that area and all potential offenders. If everyone breaks their silence on
this issue…and enforcement mechanism plays a proactive role in dealing with
such cases with sensitivity and care, what we are creating is a great wall of
deterrence. Maybe there are
temporary inconveniences for the victim, but it is worth it, as it will help
the person look back at her fight against such violation with pride and view herself as a person of courage.
