Soon, city theatres to screen short films on child sex abuse

Alarmed by the rise in the numbers of child sex abuse cases in city, Hyderabad city police has come up with a unique initiative to fight the menace. Soon, theatres across the city will be screening three short films of two-minute duration each in English, Telugu and Hindi, that will sensitise city folk about how children become victims of sex abuse every day and the importance of standing up against it. “The aim is to spread public awareness about the kind of sexual abuses our children are going through and whom to approach when they report the matter,” shares additional DCP (Central Crime station), Ranjan Ratan.

Hyderabad city Police has joined hands with two NGOs, Save the

Children and Communication Research Centre

(

CRC

), to produce these short films that will focus on three issues — sexual abuse of girls, sexual abuse of boys and how children fall prey to online stalkers.

Vishy Teki

, an alumunus of

University of Hyderabad

, who directed the films says, “Child sex abuse is rampant in the world we live in. But unfortunately, our society refuses to acknowledge the fact. We turn a blind eye to it and pretend it isn’t happening. And worse, instead of punishing the perpetrators, we choose to blame/ doubt the victims. So it is imperative to break the stigma of sexual abuse. We hope these films will reach out to a wider audience once they are shown in theatres as Public Service Messages.”

Stressing on the importance of parents teaching children how to speak up against sexual abuse, Vishy adds, “A majority of the perpetrators are often relatives and most of the times the offenses are committed in our homes. Children choose to suffer in silence as they are too scared to talk about the trauma even to parents. So, the onus is on parents to educate their children and empower them to speak up.”

Taapsee

lends her support to the cause

The film has a cameo appearance by actor Taapsee Pannu, who will be seen urging all parents to take their children’s complaints seriously. “We wanted to rope in a celebrity to spread the message. We felt Taapsee would be ideal as she has a connect with the youth; she is a role model for young women. She came on board immediately when we approached her. Taapsee’s message, ‘Listen to your children...’, will serve as a wake-up call to parents,” says Vishy.