A mobile phone application called Bal Suraksha to fight child sexual abuse was launched here on Friday. It’s an outcome of the combined efforts of the Telangana police, the UNICEF, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing and Enfold Trust.
The app, available in 11 languages, including English, Telugu and Kannada, can be downloaded on Google Playstore.
It lists the responsibilities of parents, schools, doctors, police and the media and touches upon the ways to deal with the perpetrators of sexual violence. Considerable effort has gone into making the app child-friendly.
It helps them learn personal safety Acts and rules such as The Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act, and encourages them not to remain quiet. It also answers questions from users.
A part of the programme was a panel discussion on ‘Child Sexual Abuse – The Media’s Role in Creating Awareness’. Panelists pointed out that the focus, while reporting sexual abuse, should be on the perpetrator and not the survivor, even as they said that there was a need for greater sensitivity on the subject.
Narrating her story of how she was abused by a junior advocate at her father’s office, educationalist Ranjitha Rao said the language used should be bereft of negative connotations. “The awareness about this should be much more. It should be natural,” she said.
Describing a change in the attitude of the media with respect to sexual abuse, Sakshi executive editor Dileep Reddy said sensitivity on the subject has increased over the past decade. “There are self-checks in place. The Press Council of India and the National Broadcasting Association have also intervened,” he said.
Psychiatrist Poornima Nagaraja, fashion designer Ganesh Nallari, teacher Prashant Thuppala also spoke.
