Sexual abuse victims reach Nirbhaya homes too late'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Nirbhaya homes for sexual abuse victims already have their hands full dealing with the emotional and physical scars suffered by the victims, and now a fresh problem has cropped up: the belated arrival of victims to the homes. It has been found that victims of sexual abuse, 90 percent of them teenagers, are transferred to the Home only after keeping them in temporary places like ‘mahila mandirams’ and Kudumbashree-run ‘snehitha’ homes where they are vulnerable to intimidation and emotional blackmail.

A victim of a gang rape in Pathanamthitta, for instance, was shifted to the Home only after she was kept for nearly a week in a mahila mandiram in the district. In such cases, the transfer takes place after the victim goes off the handle and becomes difficult to handle. “By the time they reach here, we have found that their trauma had doubled,” a top Social Justice Department official said. This has created serious victim management issues for the Home authorities. “It has also been seen that such girls with unstable behaviour are disturbing the emotional balance of those already in the Home,” the official added.

However, more seriously, this interim arrangement is said to be a purposeful attempt to keep the children vulnerable to feelers from the perpetrators. “Such homes are not as secure as a Nirbhaya Home, and are highly accessible,” said Pattabhiraman, who runs the NGO Succour. “It is easy for the family of the perpetrators to get through to the victim and intimidate or emotionally blackmail her against testifying against the accused in court,” he added. Further, in many cases the perpetrators are within the homes, father, brother or a close relative. There is also the failure of authorities to arrest the perpetrators. “The arrest is not taking place. They first treat the issue as a missing case and by the time the criminal procedures are initiated, the accused will get bail,” the official said.