KASARGOD: Priya*, 18, scored more than 60 per cent in the Class X examination. From the outside, there is nothing remarkable about her score. But Priya’s is a story of fortitude, and comeback. A school dropout, she was sexually assaulted by a relative when she was 16. At the time of being rescued, she was late into her pregnancy. Priya gave birth to a boy in a shelter home.
“After continuous counselling and support, we put her back in school,” said an officer who worked with her. For the past two years, she was not just pre-occupied with her studies, but was also nursing her son. “She was studying for the exam with the child in her arms literally,” said the officer.Priya is among the four girls from the shelter home who aced the SSLC examination, said district child protection officer Biju. Three other young women, abused when they were minors, cleared the Class XII examination. “It’s a moment of pride and happiness for us,” he said.
Each of the girls are achievers and they will be felicitated, he said. Gayatri Sreedharan* and her sister were deserted by her father, abused by a neighbour. They were rescued and placed in the home two years ago. “Gayatri scored 72 per cent, the highest in the home. Her sister is in class X this year,” said the officer quoted in the first instance.She said though the girls were called survivors, it might take long time for the mental scars to heal. “The girls often have long bouts of depression and we stay with them throughout the period, motivating them,” said district child protection coordinator Faseela.
Some children can never go home and they do turn moody. “We keep them engaged with sports, craft work, painting and outing,” she said.Take for instance Abha, 18, a scheduled tribe student. She scored 60 per cent in Class XII this year. But she also has a five-year-old child to take care of.Officers said the girls were given special tuition by DIET senior teacher Janardhanan, pycho-social counsellors and Child Protection Unit staff.The district child protection officer said, “The children will have the full backing of the government in their future studies,” he said.
‘Drop Nirbhaya branding’
The children, however, would like the government to drop the Nirbhaya branding from the shelter home. By identifying themselves as residents of Nirbhaya Shelter Home, they are also distinguishing themselves as victims of sex crimes, they said.An officer said the staff were aware of that traumatic name, and never refer to the institution as Nirbhaya Shelter Home. “We don’t even call it a shelter home. We call it just home. Also the board outside the building does not identify it as Nirbhaya,” she said.
Crimes on the rise
Despite the comeback stories of the girls, the dark reality is the crimes against children are on the rise in Kerala, especially Kasargod district.The shelter home — for survivors of child sexual abuse — now has 26 children, several of them minor mothers. The youngest girl is in class VII. (*names changed)