12-year-old gets stepfather arrested following lessons on bad touch

AHMEDABAD: A 12-year-old girl had, a few months ago, attended a sexual abuse awareness programme called ‘Project Masoom’ at her zilla panchayat government school in Sanand GIDC. The programme was organized by the Times Foundation in association with Childline and CII-YoungIndians. The lessons she learned came in handy when her stepfather began to abuse her sexually, by touching her private parts, a few days ago.
On Tuesday, the girl and her mother mustered up the courage and called the 1098 helpline. They sought help in registering a criminal case against the stepfather, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and having him arrested.

The abuse began five days ago, since when her stepfather had been violating her every day after she returned from school. Her stepfather had not behaved in this way for close to 11 years. “The father would allegedly threaten her, telling her not to tell anyone about what he was doing. The girl cried a lot out of fear,” says Patel.

“Her mother works at a nearby factory and returns late every evening. The girl had no one to share her agony with,” said Childline councellor Binal Patel. The girl first tried to inform her mother, by writing what she was going through on a small chit and planting it in her mother’s tiffin box. Her mother, who is illiterate, ignored the chit,” Patel added. The girl later wrote to her teacher, who then spoke to her mother regarding the incident.

According to the FIR lodged at Sanand GIDC police station, the stepfather had begun abusing the girl last Saturday. On Tuesday, the girl and her mother called the helpline, from the ‘Project Masoom’ sticker on her notebook. “Despite pressure from relatives, the mother and the daughter lodged a criminal complaint against the man. He was arrested by Sanand GIDC police, Patel said.

Over the last few months, Times Foundation’s ‘Project Masoom’ has held 227 sessions for children at many zilla panchayat schools, where 13,356 children have been sensitized about sexual abuse, through short animation films and instructions. The project has also trained 740 teachers to help sensitize children.