Train passenger helps rescue 26 girls from the ‘child traffickers’… with just one tweet
Commuters disembark from a suburban train at a railway station in Mumbai. © Shailesh Andrade / Reuters
A train passenger is being hailed a hero after saving 26 girls from suspected child traffickers. Adarsh Shrivastava raised the alarm by tweeting authorities after spotting the girls on a train in the Uttar Pradesh, north India.
Shrivastava noticed the 26 girls, who he thought looked distressed, traveling in the same carriage as him on Thursday. Concerned that something untoward was underway, Shrivastava tweeted rail authorities, the minister for railways, and even the prime minister.
Adarsh Shrivastava
@AdarshS74227065
I am traveling in Avadh express(19040). in s5. in my coach their are 25 girls all are juvenile some of them are crying and all feeling unsecure.@RailMinIndia @PiyushGoyal @PMOIndia @PiyushGoyalOffc @narendramodi @manojsinhabjp @yogi
In another tweet, he alleged that the youngsters could be subject to human trafficking.
Adarsh Shrivastava
@AdarshS74227065
Replying to @AdarshS74227065
subject to human trafficking )my current station is Hari Nagar my next station is BAGAHA and then Gorakhpur.kindly help them out. Please help.@RailMinIndia @PiyushGoyal @PiyushGoyalOffc @PMOIndia @narendramodi @rajnathsingh
The Ministry of Railways responded to Shrivastava’s tweet half an hour later, and tagged railway police forces in the tweet, urging them to take action. Just a few stops later, plain-clothes officers boarded the train.
Indian Railways Seva
@RailwaySeva
Kindly look into this matter @rpfner
According to Scroll India, the group of girls were found with two men, aged 22 and 55, who were arrested by police. “All of them are from West Champaran in Bihar,” officials said. “The girls were being taken from Narkatikyaganj to Idgah. When questioned, the girls were unable to answer anything convincingly, so they have been handed over to the child welfare committee.”
Shrivastava is now being praised as a hero on social media. “Such response makes me proud to be an Indian,” one user posted. “Thank you action is happening. Thanks for your quick response,” said another.
The rescue comes less than a month after India’s Railway Board launched an awareness campaign to highlight the risks of vulnerable young children on the railway network. The campaign encourages railway passengers and employees to remain vigilant while using India’s train systems to help railway police stamp out child traffickers.
According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, over 9,000 Indian children were victims of trafficking in 2016. Many children are sold into slavery after being lured from their homes in rural areas to the city with promises of jobs.
Children, usually from poor and rural areas, are hoodwinked into leaving their homes on the promise of getting jobs in the city. They are then trafficked for child labor, sex work, child brides, adoption, and sometimes sent overseas. Earlier this year, the Ministry announced that it was increasing its effort to tackle trafficking.
Divine Beginners and Junior School on Wednesday took a step towards protecting their pupils from child abuse when they invited Family Support officials to educate the pupils about sexual abuse.
The Chitungwiza school spokesperson Chiedza Mandizvidza said this is a constant exercise they do to ensure their pupils are protected from sexual abuse. “We do this once every term because every term we get new pupils and the old pupils also need constant reminders,” she said.
Most of the pupils easily identified what they termed “don’t touch” areas when asked by Emilda Munjoro from Family Support. They pointed to their private parts and were also impressive when asked what they would do should someone touch their “don’t touch” areas.
“I will tell my mother!”
“I will tell my teacher.”
“I will tell my granny.”
“I will go to the police”
“I will tell my aunt,” they said in turns. The pupils showed that they are well groomed when it comes to issues of sexual abuse through their confident replies.
And when Emilda asked them what they would do if the person who touched them told them to keep the abuse a secret or threatened them with death, again they had ready answers.
“There are no secrets. I will still tell my teacher,” said one of the Divine Beginners pupils.
“Most sexual abuse cases are perpetrated by close family members or relatives that are in the children’s positions of trust,” said Mandizvidza. “It is always the uncle or the aunt or the stepfather, sometimes even the father who sexually abuses the child.
So we call Family Support to “edutain” the pupils about the people that pose the biggest dangers to their lives. I say edutain because children learn through playing, through singing these don’t touch songs and playing these anti-sexual abuse games,” she said.
“The feedback we get from parents is impressive and we hear some of the children refuse to be touched in the wrong areas even during baths and they opt to bath their own private parts.
Through these rhymes and songs and games, I can safely tell you that Divine Beginners and Junior School pupils do not get abused sexually. And if it somehow happens, the perpetrators will be brought to book,” said a confident Mandizvidza.
She added that they always invite Family Support officials at their functions and last term they did so when they hosted four other schools for a sports day.
“We hold a lot of functions, cultural and sporting in line with the new curriculum and Family Support officials in Chitungwiza have become family as we always invite them to educate our children about child sexual abuse at such events.
So whether it’s mass displays, presidential marches, drummies, swimming or ball games, every event we host is an opportunity to educate our kids and other pupils from competing schools about child sexual abuse.”
NSW invests millions into its first sexual assault strategy
Following steps by Tasmania and Scotland
Natalie WolfeTHE New South Wales government will fork out $200 million over the next four years to teach schoolchildren how to defend themselves against sexual assault and to teach teenagers that silence doesn’t mean yes.
The money will go towards the state’s first sexual assault strategy being rolled out in schools from kindergarten to Year 12, meaning children as young as four could be taught about understanding consent.
The government will also launch a $1 million ad campaign on sexual consent, telling young adults if they don’t get a clear and verbal “yes” then they shouldn’t be pushing forward.
“If you want sex you have to ask for it and if you want that sex, you have to say ‘yes’,” Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Minister Pru Goward told The Daily Telegraph.
The strategy will also focus on preventing sexual assault and harassment in universities and workplaces as well as protecting victims.
The campaign will put signs and beer coasters splashed with messages like “no means no” and “silence is not yes” in pubs and bars encouraging young people to think before having sex.
Minister Pru Goward has launched a review into the state’s sexual consent laws.
Picture: Hollie AdamsSource:News Corp Australia
A review of the state’s consent laws came after Luke Lazarus, the man accused of raping Saxon Mullins in an alleyway behind a Kings Cross nightclub in 2013, was acquitted after a five year legal case.
Ms Mullins, now aged 23, bravely waived her right to anonymity to share her story with ABC’s Four Corners in May — around a year after Mr Lazarus’ acquittal in 2017 — which sparked a national debate about sexual consent.
Following the episode going to air, NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman referred the laws to the Law Reform Commission after questions were raised about their adequacy, fairness and clarity.
Ms Goward said: “The affect, effect of sexual assault on victims is profound and long-lasting, and it requires a whole of community response if we are to reduce the number of incidents and the damage caused by this crime.
“The NSW Government’s Sexual Assault Strategy proposes an integrated response that is not just focused on the crisis point of the system, but also in the critical areas of prevention and early intervention.”
She said any adult survivors of child sexual abuse on the state’s social housing waiting list will be prioritised as part of the strategy.
If NSW does reform its sexual consent laws, it will join Tasmania in being one of Australia’s strictest states when it comes to establishing positive consent.
“You must explicitly ask for permission to have sex. If it’s not an enthusiastic yes, then it’s a no,” Ms Goward said in May, after she called for NSW’s laws to change.
Ms Goward’s decision to upgrade the NSW school curriculum comes less than six months after Scotland announced it would be teaching pre-school children about the concept of “consent”.
Under a push from the Scottish National Party to combat violence against women, children as young as two could receive lessons about consent.
The proposal, titled “Equally Safe: A deliver plan for Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls”, caused an outcry from family groups who claimed it was “ridiculous” to teach preschool age children about consent.
Along with teaching schoolchildren the importance of consent and healthy relationships, the plan also saw Rape Crisis Scotland’s sexual violence prevention education program rolled out across a further 11 schools.
If by consent they are referring to teaching children 'safe touch' and 'unsafe touch' and that they have the right to say no to 'unsafe touch', then it's all good.
India announces portal to report online child sex abuse
TNM StaffIt may become easier to file complaints pertaining to cybercrime, with the Home Ministry hosting a portal to report child sexual abuse material and other material online. The portal currently caters to child pornography, child sexual abuse material. It also includes sexually explicit content such as rape/gang rape material.
Cybercrimes that don’t fall under these categories still have to reported to the nearest police station or the cybercrime cell.
For one to report a complaint, they can opt for either ‘Report Anonymously’ or ‘Report and Track’. When one chooses ‘Report and Track’, complainants will have to provide details such as name, phone number, email address, details of the incident and information supporting the complaint.
If one chooses ‘Report Anonymously’, only information relating to the incident needs to be provided. However, the complaints are approved only after one puts in their phone number and receives a One Time Password.
On June 18, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had directed officials to expedite the portal’s launch during a review meeting.
According to Ministry officials from the Department of Women and Child Welfare, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that this project would be funded under Nirbhaya, according to the Indian Express. While the portal will currently respond to complaints, it is expected that there will be technology which will help automatically identify and remove content, the report added.
“The intent of having a dedicated portal hosted by the MHA is to accelerate the procedure so that the matter is resolved within 24 hours. The idea is to escalate content so that it can be blocked and removed as well as to start early prosecution,” the official told IE.
Child sex abuse survivors’ chance to speak at national apology session in Wollongong
Andrew Pearson
Illawarra victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse will be given the chance to help shape a national apology during a face-to-face consultation session to be held in Wollongong later this month.
The federal government has included the city, which was initially left out of the in-person consultation process, on the back of lobbying by Labor MP – and outspoken supporter of child sex abuse victims – Stephen Jones.
Mr Jones, the federal Member for Whitlam, attended Edmund Rice College in the 1980s – a school he described as “a dumping ground for sexual predators that had offended elsewhere and been moved on”.
It was a Catholic school for boys and therefore a magnet for paedophile priests and teachers.
The MP addressed Parliament in support of victims, including some of his former classmates, in October 2016.
Mr Jones welcomed the government’s decision to include Wollongong among the 14 locations across the country where face-to-face sessions are being held.
“I’d encourage members of the Illawarra community who’ve got an interest in this, particularly survivors, to attend when the forum comes to town,” he said.
The Wollongong session, listed on the national apology consultation website as “to be confirmed”, is scheduled for July 25.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is due to deliver a national apology to the victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse in October.
Consultations are occurring across Australia. I am currently writing a book with one of the survivors of institutional child sex abuse in Melbourne area. It's called 'Sheep-Skinned Wolves; The Emma Fretton Story'.
Emma appeared before a panel last week. I had the privilege of helping her prepare. She was very courageous. It took a great deal of courage even though her abuse happened 30 years ago and she has testified at her abuser's trial and at the Royal Commission. It is absolutely tragic the effects child abuse and child sex abuse has on both children and adults who survive childhood abuse. The book should be out on Amazon in the next few months.
The apology follows the release of the final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in December.
The royal commission heard more than one in every nine Catholic priests in Wollongong were alleged child molesters between 1950 and 2010 – placing the Diocese of Wollongong in the top five areas with the highest proportion of priests who were alleged child sex abusers.
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