“Beta”. To many children this word is an accepted form
of being addressed by people around them: the parents, the relatives, the baby-
sitter, the neighbours, et al. But for some, unfortunately, the word becomes
something of a nightmare, compelling them to relive a horror they once felt
from an overly friendly uncle who, like everybody else, would come visiting
with that word on his mouth: “Beta”.
An article printed in
the International Business Times on February 12, 2014, lists the top five
countries with the highest rates of child sexual abuse. Nationalists who
scream, “This is a conspiracy to shame our great nation” at such statistical
listings will have yet another chance to state so if I tell them that India
makes it to the list, just one rank below the worst- hit South Africa.
Rewinding the clocks back an year to 2013, a report put forward by the Asian
Centre for Human Rights only seconds India’s position in the list, stating, “that more than 48,000 child rape cases were recorded from 2001 to
2011 and that India saw an increase of 336% of child rape cases from 2001
(2,113 cases) to 2011 (7,112 cases).
Coming back to the present I still find the
newspapers I buy, my social media news feeds, and the online news portals
cluttered each day with news of sexual assaults on children. And it makes me
wonder if the phrase “Age is just a number” actually holds such vile meanings
and roots within the proprietors of these heinous deeds. As for the rest of us,
many have been naïve enough to deny the fact that we, as a nation, have failed
our women. I can only imagine how Herculean a task it would be to make this
population realise that we have failed our children too. For turning a blind
eye to crimes and wicked deeds has somehow become a habit for my fellow countrymen
at a time when all they need to practise is stop pretending that they do not
see; when they need to break the silence and stand up against people who only
seem threatening on the outside, but will scurry away like rats if only we
choose to speak.
Ignorance of the dangers that lurk both
within and beyond our doors has proved to be a hindrance in ensuring the safety
of our children. Add to this the lethargy of those who are sworn by duty to
maintain and protect the law. And where do the “watchful eyes” sleep when
children are kidnapped in broad daylight and assaulted in marshy wildernesses
in ways inhuman and unthinkable of? When will we unite under the realisation
that rape is a disease that has taken first our women, and now our children as
its helpless victims?
Putting the ranting aside, I must admitand
state that it has become crucially significant for Indian parents to open up to
their kids about everything that happens in the lives of these young ones. The
days of the dictatorial father and mother need to go away into obscurity if we
wish to ensure that our children our safe. Shying away from educating our
children about the aspects of sexuality only makes them more gullible and
vulnerable to a possible paedophile disguised as a very friendly acquaintance.
As a parent, one must understand that your child is your responsibility, and
that you must never trust anybody else with this duty.
Nevertheless, for situations in which the
parents become helpless to do anything, it is the law that must realise its
duty of spreading awareness even to the remotest of masses. It is up to the
governing system to embolden its citizens instead of suppressing the voices of
those who choose to speak up against the evil for the sake of their children.
As for the rest of us, the façade of the
blind man we wear needs to be taken off our eyes to dismantle the taboo that
surrounds the cases of sexual abuse. We must understand that the cycle of
silence needs to be broken.
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