IPS officer helping kids fight sexual abuse | Fusion - WeRIndia

Understanding the difference between a good touch and a bad touch is hard for children.

Often times they may not clearly understand the difference between their father giving them a supportive pat and a bad touch from a neighbor.

According to some surveys, there is a good chance that almost everyone faced such a touch in their life. Such kind of harassment can happen to anyone regardless of age.

For children this is even worse because they are not always sure what they are experiencing.

They can only feel that it is bad. It is also very hard to explain what they experienced because of the shock and the unknown nature of the experience.

Saroj Kumari who is an IPS officer in Vadodara, Gujarat wants to change this. She has dedicated herself to help children fight sexual harassment.

She has personally taken the responsibility to go to schools and teach children about good and bad touch.

She calls her initiative Samajh Sparsh Ki (Understanding a touch). For this mission, Saroj has formed a team of 12 members.

Saroj picked 12 policewomen for this mission. They are all trained in gender sensitization. So far, they already spoke to around 2000 kids in Gujarat.

Her mission has attracted the help of Suraksha Setu Societies in Gujarat who are giving them financial support.

The team approaches schools by writing them letters first. They conduct sessions there for students between age of 5 to 15 years.

The team even changes their uniform to appear more approachable.

The sessions will also include talking to parents as well.

They talk about the criminal offences that are possible and what the parents should do if their child tells them about sexual harassment.

They also advice the parents about how to talk about this matter with the kids.

With the help of such awareness activities, one can hope that these kind of acts will start to perish.

Image Reference: Thebetterindia