Child harassment: An abuser's way of exploiting innocence and free will

"The sacred law he reads and learns, to other men expounds; Himself obeys not; where can greater fool be found?" Thirukural, 834.

Recently, a Professor of PSBB school Rajagopalan was arrested for sexual harassment after their students and alumni reported several complaints and pleas on social media. But it didn't stop there. Reports of a commerce teacher from Maharishi Vidhya Mandir was also brought to light, which resulted in suspension on the same grounds. Many more such cases will be brought to light soon.

No sources were interviewed about the persecutor of the PSBB case to write this blog. However, I have analysed some reasons for what causes people to commit such crimes.

Source: DNAIndia

Note: This blog doesn't prosecute nor defend the case of Rajagopalan, rather it should be taken as an example to explain the causes and reasons of such cases; and preventive measures that can be taken to stop child abuse/harassment.

So firstly, my question is,

"Why did it happen?"

A verbal notice released by Tamil Nadu police stated that the harasser, Mr. Rajagopalan, said he did what he did for the sake of 'conversation or mutual joy’. The irony here is that Mr. Rajagopalan is also a member of the school's sexual harassment committee.

Here, I can't read his mind and conclude what exactly he was thinking while doing these heinous crimes, but I can find some things to point out in the general society which contribute to the prevalence of sexual harassment.

A prominent reason why sexual harassers don’t even see that their actions are wrong is that everything they’ve known about sexual behaviour and the treatment of who they consider the weaker section of the society (prominently women and children, but yes, men too.) is all twisted with a degrading ideology, that puts themselves in the position of unquestionable authority, while the latter holds no consent to what they subjugate them to. One way to break this pathetic ideology is to provide sex education right from the teenage years.

Sex education creates a safe platform for students to learn and understand biological changes happening in their bodies. It also deals with issues regarding sexual behaviour, consent and the ethics and responsibilities of every individual to create a safe environment. For starters, in terms of sexual discipline, let me explain something:

Every teenager goes through enormous changes in a hormonal, mental and physical sense. Any teenager typically needs to understand the basics of becoming an adult and its responsibilities, starting with proper behaviour and mindset, for this builds the base for their actions. A degrading mindset fuelled by unrealistic sexual fantasies can lead to people normalising inappropriate behaviour, eventually perpetrating such crimes.

Adults shape the outlook of the younger generation by what they sexualise. Teachers abusing or commenting on parts of student's body or their size, even as a ‘motivational’ move, is tremendously inappropriate. It manifests a deteriorating mindset, which can normalise such behaviour among the viewers; the students. It is a vicious cycle we must break.

Think: If students are not educated about sexual behaviour, its rights, and wrongs, would they all even bring up issues of sexual harassment in the first place? Some students might dangerously assume whatever their teacher is doing is within their knowledge and what they are doing is right. They might even do it in the future themselves.

Another reason for the prevalence of such crimes and them going unnoticed is that the existing laws for the protection of children are not stringent enough. Also, the widespread unawareness leads to insufficient knowledge about them among the student community. Hence, the implementation of these provisions is not sufficient enough to meet the rising demands.

For example,

The POCSO Act: The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 ("POCSO Act") protects children from sexual abuse and prescribes punishment by imprisonment and fine for sexual offences against children, but it is often not taught in schools. This is one of the main reasons why people like Mr. Rajagopalan are very confident that they would never get caught.

Laws must be made strict enough to ensure not just the punishment of perpetrators after the crime has been committed but to ensure that the crime does not take place in the first place. One way to ensure schools take their responsibility on such matters seriously is by holding the entire institution accountable for sexual harassment committed by any individual staff member if the school fails to act upon complaints raised by the students.

In fact one in two children in India experience child abuse in some form- be it in school or at home.

But why aren’t people talking about this enough?

Individuals belonging to the age group of 4-18 are considered children, which is also the age group of individuals attending schools. Every child has their rights, which as an adult, is our responsibility to safeguard. They have the right to safety, which gives them access to security that ensures a harassment-free environment in places where their parents send them to study.

Students should be provided with their own safe space with counsellors, teachers, parents, friends, or siblings to let them express their doubts, problems, insecurities, and experiences. As mature adults, we should let them know what should be normalized and what shouldn't be. Moreover, we should help them speak out against deteriorating behaviour and support them when such cases come to light. Child protection from harassment will find its true meaning only when justice is served in cases where their safety is breached.

Remember: Harassers utilize the fact that children don't talk or open up about their experiences to anyone and hence repeat or advance their behaviour time and again.

When it comes down to such disgusting behaviour, especially portrayed by adults, such behaviour can be easily passed on to the children watching them. Hence, children must be taught the difference between right and wrong, straight from home itself.

An important issue I’d like to shed light on:

In this case, there were many voices defending Mr. Rajagopalan. Some alumni said that he was a hardworking person who became a victim to his students.

Even if that is the case, there are ways to defend people without belittling the (potential) voices of survivors of sexual harassment. No person feels comfortable sharing the stories of their abuse with the world. For such stories to surface from multiple children alleging harassment at the hands of the same person is not a joke. It should not be taken lightly by any person, even if they know the accused personally, simply because they didn’t experience it first-hand. For which, honestly, thank God.

I wouldn't have done the above blog without the help of @__kripali, @badgalsrusri, and other social media activists who exposed the truth of this case.

By,

Arivoli Aravindhan

Editors: Anjana and Saniya

#ChildHarassment #PSBB #SexEd