The child may dislike or seem afraid of a particular person and try to avoid spending time alone with them.
A team of mental health professionals from Bengaluru will be travelling to all 29 state capitals to educate and train over one lakh children, parents and teachers on prevention of child sexual abuse. The project is called ‘Bhayamukth Bharath’. Speaking to media, Ashwini N V, founder-director of Muktha Foundation, which works with child sexual abuse and domestic violence victims, said, “Often, perpetrators closely watch the pattern in which parents drop off their children to school.
If the parent rushes to drop the child and doesn’t even wait around to say goodbye, perpetrators believe that it is these children who are the ‘right targets’. They believe that such parents won’t have time to listen to their children, whom, they believe, need emotional support.”
Parents are not aware of such clues. With the intent to educate them on some of the possible tactics that perpetrators could use, Muktha has launched this nationwide campaign, starting on January 1, 2019. The campaign will focus not only on parents and children, but also on teachers, NGO professionals, members of religious congregations, community members and other stakeholders too. “This is like a war on child sexual abuse,” Ashwini added.
Another professional, who is part of Muktha’s initative, said, “Instead of being ashamed of sexual abuse, we will tell people to speak out and seek the police’s help.”
