Gujarat: Narmada follows footsteps of Vadodara police in tackling child abuse

According to Vadodara Deputy Commissioner of Police Saroj Kumari, who is the brainchild behind it, the initiative is now being adopted at multiple places, with Narmada being the first to send their personnel for training.

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Under the flagship project in Vadodara, more than 25 schools have been covered so far, with “Samajh Sparsh Ki’ team covering four schools every week. (Representational Image)

Adopting the initiative started by Vadodara police to help children distinguish between a “good” and a “bad: touch, 10 woman police personnel from Narmada’s Nirbhaya squad will soon undergo training to launch the initiative in Narmada district. Launched in July, the project “Samajh Sparsh Ki” intends to help schoolchildren become self aware to thwart any sexual advances by known or unknown people.

According to Vadodara Deputy Commissioner of Police Saroj Kumari, who is the brainchild behind it, the initiative is now being adopted at multiple places, with Narmada being the first to send their personnel for training.

“We have been approached from several districts regarding the module, but from Narmada it will be our first outstation batch to train them under the initiative. The training includes gender sensitisation, soft skills and understanding POCSO law to deal with and help understand the children better. Here in Vadodara, our team underwent an extensive two months of training, but that will vary from place to place,” Kumari said.

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Along with the squad of 10, five other woman police personnel will be trained in the workshop here in Vadodara.

Recently a principal of a residential school in Narmada was arrested for molesting several girl students at his residential school. The Narmada police now intends to take this initiative in a big way to all the residential schools in the district.

“After we came across the molestation and abuse case at a residential school, we realised that this was the need of the hour. Though the reported cases of crime against children have gone down in the district, there are children who do not even know if and when they should react and complain about a certain incident. There are a lot of residential schools here for both boys and girls. For children who stay away from their parents, the need to teach the difference between a good and a bad touch is very essential, so that no one violates them,” said Narmada Superintendent of Police Mahendra Bagadiya.

Narmada’s Nirbhaya squad, comprising 10 woman police personnel, was set up in April this year to fight the menace of harassment of women and curtail the cases of eve-teasing and molestation.

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Under the flagship project in Vadodara, more than 25 schools have been covered so far, with “Samajh Sparsh Ki’ team covering four schools every week. Students of age group 5 to 15 years are first shown a musical video with the theme, “Chuna Humko Bas Pyaar Se Hi”, after which they are explained the difference between a good touch and a bad touch, through demonstrations, enactions and discussions. They are then made to write and share any incident in particular that bothers them or that they identify as a bad touch. After going through the incidents shared by the students, if the team feels that a student needs counselling, a psychologist is roped in to help cope with it, and if the incident is from the recent past and action could be taken, then appropriate action is taken against the offender.

The team also makes sure that all the students from the age of five-year-old memorise the child helpline number by heart and also the name of their parents, their contact details and emergency contacts, if any.

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