CHENNAI: Ramya* wakes up crying from her sleep often these days. The four-year-old cannot comprehend the crime committed against her, but the terror inflicted is still fresh in her mind. “I stay up and sit by her side all night to ensure she sleeps peacefully, and doesn’t start crying again,” says Ramya’s mother Jaya*. “This has been the case for last one week.”
A week ago, Jaya, who works as a domestic help, left the child playing in front of the house and went for work. Before leaving she asked her neighbours to keep an eye on Ramya. As a single mother abandoned by her husband three years ago, Jaya is dependant on her neighbours to take care of Ramya when she is away at work.
Jaya was away from Ramya for just for two hours. But by then, a lot changed in both their lives for worse. A 58-year-old man staying alone in the vicinity saw the child playing alone. He lured Ramya into his house with chocolates, say the police. Within minutes, the neighbours heard Ramya scream. When the rushed out, they saw her running out of the man’s house, without clothes.
The man was immediately nabbed and handed over to the cops. Ramya, however, is still reluctant to step out of her house. “Every time she crosses that house, she clings to her mother,” says a relative. Jaya’s relatives blame her for leaving the child alone. But none understands that she needs to work to feed them both.
Ramya is just one of the thousands of children facing sexual abuses in our society. Most of them have to deal with the trauma alone. There is a serious lack of social support. “As it is many such families used to hesitate approaching the police. Now, with the lockdown, it’s worse,” says child rights activist A Devaneyan.
“The restrictions have also made counselling difficult. It is important to make the victim feel confident that it was not their mistake.” Even worse, says Andrew Sesuraj, convenor of the TN Child Rights, is the state of children forced to live under the same roof as their predator.
Sensing that children are especially vulnerable during the lockdown, rights organisations have sent a proposal to the State, asking for school teachers to be roped in as protection officers. “Every teacher must be made to call their students on a weekly basis.”
“When the school is underway, children talk to their friends or teachers if they face any abuses. That avenue has been sealed now. As in the case of Covid, government should provide additional helpline numbers for children facing abuse,” says Sesuraj. In the last three months of lockdown alone, 209 cases have been filed under the POCSO Act across TN. Data shows that in most of these cases, the accused are related to the victims. Meanwhile, instructions have been sent out to ensure that all the helplines installed in All Women Police Stations are functional and also a log should be maintained to follow-up the action taken.
Crimes on rise
The UN and the National Commission for Women have acknowledged that crimes against women have increased manifold during the lockdown. Reporting of number of crimes against women on TN police’s helpline have more than halved during the lockdown. However, the number of complaints rose significantly after the police delved deeper into the issue with an outreach programme, said ADGP of Crime against Women and Children, M Ravi during
a webinar
* Names changed