Uncovering Child Abuse
The fake helping hands was a bait for the little minds to get deceived and fall into the deep whirl of unknown.
Child abuse, sorry to say, but this social vulgarity still exists. The innocent eyes believed them, unaware of the hidden intentions behind. She was seven when she was abused by the man she thought was her friend. She was unaware of what happened to her, but she understood that it was neither love nor affection. It left a deep impression on her subconscious mind. The pointed finger at her face, to keep mum over the incident, made in her the fear. She wasn’t able to gather courage from the scattered heart to open up to anyone nor anyone was willing to listen to her. The incident slowly started making her feel guilty, making her feel that she did something wrong, the four walls started suffocating her and she wanted to run away from this. A vulnerable one gets influenced by the surroundings. Sometimes included in the list of missing children (this case can’t be avoided).
If the case is reported to the authorities, the young ones would be sent to child care institutions for recovery from the mental trauma that they are dealing with, but the underdeveloped systems, still make the young ones feel that they are neglected, they are worthless, which leaves deep lasting scars on kids, where they feel to go out from the stress they are dealing with. They leave from these so-called “care institutions”, they may not have the courage to return to their family, so eventually, they take the path of their own. Over 3 lakh children went missing in the last 6 years according to the report submitted by Smrithi Irani in Loksabha on 3rd December 2021. And this fact cannot be neglected.
According to ICMEC, more than 1 million children are reported missing every year in the world. And in India, a child goes missing every eight minutes. Millions of them end up in human trafficking, child labor, slavery, sex work in what’s become a lucrative industry. The vulnerable families are exploited, the fake promises given by the middlemen to these families end up in losing their child forever. The children are mentally and physically abused, which results in serious emotional harm. Detached from home, it mentally deteriorates them throughout their life.
These surveys aren’t just numbers, these are realities of the dark side of the world. As the govt.is trying to implement laws to stop human trafficking, it is thriving here. What leads the vulnerable families to believe these traffickers? Probably, the fake promises, which include education for their child, food, shelter, because in these areas people don’t even meet their basic needs. They are manipulated. In Jharkhand, it’s been a decade since Sunita went missing, promised for better education, and the case is investigated till now.
These networks of human trafficking should be broken and these can be done only by the proper implementation of the law. The underprivileged people should have the access to the basic amenities of life so that they don’t fall into the persuasions of the traffickers.
The mental trauma a child has to undergo during these situations is unbearably distressing. All types of abuse and neglect leave physical and emotional stress held abuse cast a shadow throughout the length of their life, if not properly discussed with them.
Every home, every school should be a comfort zone for a child to share about his/her little happiness, little experiences, and problems. The adults should be ready to explain to them about good touch and bad touch, how to respond and deal with it( the country where sex education is still a question).
The child should never feel that he/she is neglected, unheard of, or suppressed. It is our responsibility to give them the best childhood. Listen to them rather than blaming them.
The laws should be implemented without any bias, so this social threat ends. The POCSO was one of the greatest initiatives by the govt. But implementing these should be of greater importance than the proposal. The care institutions should provide better mental well-being to the young ones rather than destroying it, it would make them feel that life still awaits and build in them the quality of optimism.
TIME TO CHANGE, TIME TO EVOLVE, TIME TO SPEAK UP. THEY ARE OUR RESPONSIBILITY.
#saynotochildabuse
