Sexual Assault - Reporting, Legal Rights, And Child Care

In one of the recent incidents in Muzaffarpur in Bihar, 44 girls had been allegedly reported to have been raped mercilessly for months, at a State-run shelter. Out of these 44, more than 30 have been confirmed to be raped post a medical examination.

As parents one should remain aware of our rights and how can we report such incidents and what should one do in situations like these. It’s crucial to prevent such sexual assaults against children and be able to nab serial abusers before they execute.

Our Rights & How Can We Handle Child Sexual Abuse Cases

Child sexual interactions or abuse among or with children below the age of 18 years constitute an offence in the court of law and there are severe punishments against such offence. As a parent, you must be aware of reporting and legal actions against such severe insane doings. Read on...

• Help the child to cope up : Remember what has happened is not the child’s fault. At the beginning try to confirm if your child is being sexually abused. Read - Know the signs of sexual abuse.  The child should be immediately taken for a medical examination and then medication and follow on appointments to be followed religiously. While and post the medical attention try and induce the fact that whatever happened is not his/her fault. Sexual assault and abuse have extreme impacts on the cognitive ability and confidence of the child, as they can go into a shock or a severe depression. Hence it would take reasonable time for the child to cope up mentally.

• Report it in the first place: When you see the wrong-doings against children anywhere, never contain it! Even if its been reported within the society the wrong-doer would have some resistance to it. Ideally take it till filing a formal complaint. The idea is to make sure that serial abuser is brought down or such behaviour is nipped in the beginning. By doing this, your would save another child from the assault.
   
• Seek help online: While you  try to get a help locally, and may feel exhausted after sometime, do try to get online with your issue without dropping any names. For instance, you could report through social media or file a complaint online keeping your identity as anonymous. You would have lesser restrictions and can reach to higher authorities in most such cases.
   
• Know your legal rights : POSCO Act (The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012) entails strong punishments for any sexual abuse, rape or assault. Sexual interactions or abuse among or with children below the age of 18 years constitute an offence in the court of law and there are severe punishments against such offence.
   
• Train children on how to fight an abuse: This is an effective line of defense. Train children to fight if they get into the clutches of such people. If they are clear with the action plan, only then they will be in a position to execute it when it’s a real – life incident. Read How to educate child Good touch vs Bad Touch
• Act now: The child shall continue to be in the same society/locality after such incidents so If we don’t correct ourselves and keep deferring such concerns, it will lead to more such cases. What I mean here is not acting is not an option. So better act now.
   
• Build a community to fight Sexual Abuse: We get into groups when it comes to fee hike or for that matter issue of negligence shown by the school administration. As its effective and better to fight in groups. Try to seek help from fellow parents upon such issues and report it to respective local authorities. For cases involving orphans its all the more necessary to safeguard them. Their security is our responsibility. Our idea of individualism may not bear fruit everywhere, only as a society we could make more impact to get this world a better place for our children.