On April 26th, 2018, a programme on 'Child Abuse & Violence - Interpersonal & Digital World' was held at Air Force Bal Bharti School, Lodhi Road, New Delhi in which concerned about the increasing number of cases of sexual violence and child sexual abuse, Hon'ble Ms.Justice Gita Mittal, Acting Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi-cum- Executive Chairperson of Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) conceived the idea of preparing a Module on sexual violence for school students covering the age group of 14-18 years.
The objective of the programme was to make students aware of the forms of sexual violence, to enable them to identify the same, to empower them to take remedial action if any such incident takes place with them or if they come to know about any such incident and at the same time to caution them that if they commit any such act, they could be held responsible for their action under the law.
The Module of the campaign aims at creating awareness about the cybercrimes and the digital world as the children these days have an easy access to digital media and may be susceptible to digital crime. The Module for this sensitization programme includes discourse on:
1) Response recourse on children: Law & Punishment on
a) Bullying, eve-teasing, and stalking
b) Dating violence, peer abuse, elopement cases and consensual sex and
c) Technology and Violence- social media cases/ instances;
2) Redress: when offence happens-
a) Helpline etc.
b) Legal aid
c) Police functioning
d) Hospital
e) Court functioning
The interaction is with students of the age group of 14-18 years via power point presentation, movie clips, and a skit. The sensitization programme also aims at enabling the students to understand the functioning of hospitals, police stations and courts and in turn the criminal justice system. Ms. Vidya heading Tulir (NGO) also contributed in conceptualizing the programme.
Justice Gita Mittal enlightened around 150 students of Air Force Bal Bharti School from classes 8th to 11th about the aim and vision of the sensitization programme with a view to make them conscious that their actions may have consequences and to imbibe in them as to what might look harmless may also cause violence. Ms. Aditi Choudhary, Registrar Vigilance, Delhi High Court addressed the students through an interactive presentation and use of video to explain the students about the gravity of the topic in the most benign manner. A skit was also staged by the staff of DSLSA to portray the live examples before the students.
Mr. Sanjeev Jain, Ld. Member Secretary and Ms. Geetanjali Goel, Ld. Spl Secretary, DSLSA informed that such programmes will be conducted by DSLSA in several schools across the Delhi to benefit maximum number of students. Ms. Sunita Gupta, Ld. Principal, and Wd. Cdr. Pushpa Sehgal, ED, Air Force Bal Bharti School echoed about the dire necessity of such programmes for the students and appreciated the event.
The joint collaborative efforts of the Judicial Officers at DSLSA and the Faculty of AFBBS made the programme a success. The students expressed positive feedback and their excitement to be a part of such an event. They also assured that they learned a lot through this programme and would participate in future as well.
The programmes shall be followed with a visit to Police Station, Hospital and Court Complex in the coming weeks to sensitize the students on the pressing topics.
