Talk on the Child Side

A first of its kind Annual Stakeholders Conference on Child Sexual Abuse CSA is set to be held in Mumbai in the coming week Actor Rahul Boses NGO The Foundation that works with victims of child sexual abuse announced this two day conference at a press conferenceThe Bollywood actor at a press conference at Mahalaxmi said CSA is considered taboo in India At this conference scheduled for April 16 and 17 20 NGOs in the country that deal with child sexual abuse will unite Coming together to discuss and learn what each of them are doing will help the awareness and prevention of this heinous crimeTogether for a cause LR Rahul Bose Suchismita Bose Kalki Koechlin and Rahul Akerkar PicShadab KhanIn India government statistics say that 53 per cent of children in India have faced or face sexual abuse Bollywood actor Kalki Koechlin who lent her support to the cause said Sexual abuse is something that has been brushed under the carpet for a very long time in India The 2012 passing of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act POSCO See box is a step forwardTalking about how The Foundation works with child sexual abuse awareness in schools Suchismita Bose director of the NGO said We work with awareness therapy and advocacy We also conduct workshops for children parents and teachers So far we have been able to speak to 53 schools in the cityReel Life A scene from the movie Monsoon Wedding The film touched upon the problem of Child Sexual Abuse CSAShedding light on why he chose to throw his weight behind the cause of CSA Rahul Bose said Ive had five relationships and the truth is that four of my girlfriends have been victims of child sexual abuse I was fortunate to not have had any such incident in my life but Ive met many people who have sadly had to live with the scar Many of these women always felt it was their fault and they were greatly depressed that their family members especially their mothers did not believe them when they spoke about the abuseFor Koechlin the education system and the way it deals with education about body parts and sexuality is to blame for lack of awareness She said In school I remember learning about the sexual parts of the body in a class where we all giggled There is a need for social sex education Complex topics about sexuality and sex need to be discussedWary The Anchorage Child Sexual Abuse case garnered huge media attention and created some awarenessWhen Koechlin was quizzed by the media about being sexually abused as a child she said The reason you havent heard about it is that I dont like to talk about it For me its not a one day headline its something thats a reality I have lived with for a long time Many of us have gone through it and most of the people that I know especially close friends of mine who are women have gone through some form of CSA Its just so out there so much of it that I think its not something that should be ignoredThe conference on CSA which is set to be held in the city at the National Centre for the Performing Arts NCPA later this month will see the lawyer Flavia Agnes gynaecologist Dr Duru Shah and child psychologist Dr Amit Sen among others come together to speak about their understanding of the problemThe trio were part of the core group working on CSA who had come together to help draft the POSCO Act Now two years later and the Act is up for review they hope to make some more suggestionsAnimated A still from Komal a film on CSA by ChildlineSuchismita Bose adds It took about five years for the bill to come about I had a great experience working with these people and so it was easy to get them all together for this review Everyone is gungho about sharing their experiences There is hardly any research when it comes to CSA Hopefully after this conference our findings will help get some fresh statisticsWith the new government set to be formed along the same time as the findings of the conference being chartered the NGOs working towards tackling CSA are very hopefulRahul said We had planned the conference much before the election dates were known But it is a good thing that they both will be happening around the same timeStating that CSA doesnt have the platform that AIDS cancer and polio have when it comes to awareness and visibility in the form of campaigns NGOs associated with the cause are hopeful the conference will help maximise collective strengths minimise weaknesses and plugin the gapsSuchismita Bose who is also one of the speakers at the conference ends With a lot of media awareness and the government taking huge steps to help CSA victims the ground level is much better The current Act has someloopholes which need to be ironed out which through this conference we will hope to doReaching OutSudeesh TM from Childline which is Indias only helpline for children said We worked closely in getting the POSCO bill passed and helped close the gaps when it came to the problems the victims faced Like in the Anchorage case which is a big case law the ground reality is that even today many children are being sexually assaulted by foreigners in India Since 2011 we have been working with awareness and safety rules for children in schools across MumbaiWith films like Bunty aur Pinky and Komal an animated film that educates children on body parts as well as child sexual abuse Sudeesh says We are reaching out to kids suffering from various kinds of exploitation throughout the country Child sexual abuse is a part of daily life for many street children as well as children from affluent families and we do our best to help the children deal with the caseOn the child sexual abuse conference Pooja Taparia Founder and Chief Executive of Arpan an NGO that deals with child sexual abuse said We are really excited about meeting other people who deal with child sexual abuse The work we do is connected to personal safety where we go to schools and teach children teachers and parents We will be presenting our work at this conference and it is a great opportunity to learn and share our experiencesTalking about April as the month of child sexual abuse Taparia added Every day is child sexual abuse day for us as we meet and counsel victims as well as spread awareness on the issue We are contributing to the child sexual abuse blog that has been created especially to observe this monthMajlis which will also be presenting their work at the conference later this month deals with the legal aspect of child sexual abuse Audrey Dmello Programme Director at Majlis said We run victim support programmes and work with the state on the sociolegal front The conference on child sexual abuse will be a great chance to see the work that is being done in other parts of India Here in Mumbai the identification parade questions asked by the defence etc are very uncomfortable and cause questions to be raised on the dignity of victims this is where we step in When it comes to child sexual abuse it has to be a question and answer format that we ensure is followed as part of protocolA police awareness programme that they conducted recently helped the police force better understand child sexual abuse Dmello said From September 2013 to February 2014 we have had an awareness programme for 670 policemen in Mumbai Very often the police fail to understand the nitty gritty of POSCO and so this awareness was a start On the field if any child sexual abuse case is dealt with in an insensitive manner we can now contact the higher ups and ensure that the child gets respect The legal system is very scary and family support is missing for many victims of child sexual abuse we try to help them deal with the problem as well as look for effective legal solutions