RAJANI'S* WISDOM: A LESSON I WILL REMEMBER FOR LIFE

By: Adv. Zishaan Iskandhari

I am writing this with a hope to dispel some popular notions, which seek blood and life of the accused as the ONLY solution to all the problems of child abuse and assumes that all victims want the same.

In 2010-11, a brother enters into a family arrangement by handing over the custody of one of his five children, a 5-6 year old girl, to his brother and sister-in-law (brother’s wife), who were unable to conceive. A hope of a better future for the child in Delhi could also possibly have been the other reason. The child started living in the new family and soon started seeing her chacha-chachi as parental figures, though being aware that her natural parents are living in the village. Come 2016-17, there were couple of remarkable changes in her life. She attained puberty and her chachi conceived and gave birth to a little boy, whom she refers to as ‘Babu’. She recalls and was anguished by neglect from her chacha-chachi after ‘Babu’ came into their life. Arguably, for some, both the neglect and her anguish, were natural.

She had by now started enjoying being in Delhi, going to a school and dreaming of joining the Indian Navy. However, things not in her control, were soon to act the devil – her growth into a young beautiful girl became her biggest enemy. Her Chacha started sexually abusing her, which could be understood by her alone. The gaze, the touch, the rub, the bump – expect someone to explain the ‘sexuality’ in above acts because you MUST, to comprehend what you have not gone through. Encouraged by submission and helplessness of the tiny tot, the Chacha one morning, finding seclusion, ravished her. He then pleaded before the child not to tell her Chachi as she might have a heart attack. And so, the child keeps mum. I am sure she had more reasons than her Chachi’s cardiac health to not disclose it to anyone, the biggest being her fear of not being believed. She was attached with the infant ‘Babu’ and loved him immensely. Fortunately, the fate wanted this story to be told and unfortunately she had to suffer further… she conceived. Some months later, the inevitable happened and the doctors reported the case to police and the Chacha was arrested. The DNA result of the foetus confirmed the abuse by Chacha.

Are you disappointed? Are you frustrated? Are you in rage? Are you feeling hopeless and restless? Have you, by now, come to a SOLUTION for her misery? Do you want anything less than a Capital Punishment for the monster, she refers to as ‘Chacha’?

Sure we all do. But let’s hear from a ‘Minor’, ‘hardly educated’, ‘immature’ ‘child in need of care and protection’. While concluding the recording of evidence, when the judge asked, “kuch aur kahna chahti ho?”, the innocent soul said, “mere chacha ko zyada saza mat dena, Babu ko kaun sambhalega..!!”. She then cried inconsolably. I had to request the court to allow the assigned support person to calm her down. No one in the court room spoke a word for a minute. Everyone was choked, stunned and in tears for some time. Women were wiping tears, and men were trying hard to hide them.

While I thought the case and the system was working to protect and give justice to that 14-year-old child, she reminded, with a jolt, to all of us that all children are vulnerable and are to be protected. I don’t know the solution of the present scenario nor am I advocating any leeway to such accused persons, but finding pin-hole solutions to Child related issues is a dangerous trend, which can be avoided if our Parliamentarians listen to these voices.
She soon assured all of us with a smile that she was Ok and asked to continue with her testimony.
And I was thinking, am I raged enough for the cause to NOT seek maximum punishment for the accused?

* Name changed to protect the identity of the child