A child, busy with his daily chores at a tea stall, is momentarily distracted by a puzzle in a children’s magazine. Delighted, he tries his hand at solving it. The shop owner, who sees this, shouts at him and pours hot tea over the magazine. He then smacks the magazine on the boy’s face.
The heart-wrenching visual remains even long after one sees it. The helplessness on the child’s face returns to haunt, several times through the day.
And that is exactly what the makers of the film intended: To move you, to make you react.
Directed by ad-maker Sleeba Varghese, the film is just one of the 12 films in Voice of the Voiceless , a compilation of short films on domestic violence and child abuse brought out by the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KELSA) and the People’s Council for Social Justice (PCSJ). The campaign is an attempt to motivate the public to raise their voice for the victims of abuse.
As each frame tells the story of pain and neglect, actor Suresh Gopi appeals to the viewer to call the helpline in aid of those in distress. The victim could be our neighbour, or a ‘staff’ in the restaurant we hop in for a tea and dosa, or just someone on the pavement while we make our way through the busy traffic. Let’s not ignore and turn our heads away. Help is just an anonymous call away, the films convey.
The shots are strong, without being in-your-face. “The idea is to get it across to as many people as possible,” says Sleeba.
When the team began work on the project, raising funds was a huge task. Thanks to sponsorship from Dr. C. Mohammed Ashraf of the CRAFT Hospital and Research Centre, Kodungallur, it became a reality, recalls Sleeba. “The rest of it just fell into place. The actors were extremely co-operative; Suresh Gopi did not seek even a single rupee,” says Sleeba.
Though NGOs have been trying to propagate the message of domestic violence and child abuse, awareness is still low, observes Bitty K. Joseph, Project Manager, PCSJ. For instance, she says, very few people know that emotional harassment is as damaging as physical. Besides sexual abuse and dowry harassment, lesser-known crimes such as ostracising a woman in her own home, forcing her to leave the house, usurping the rights of her property and verbally abusing her in the name of infertility, too, are punishable offences.
Similarly, in the case of children, a safe and happy home environment is a child’s basic right. “Children who witness domestic violence often end up as delinquents,” Bitty observes. About 80 per cent of the children who end up as a ‘Juvenile in Conflict with the Law’, come from broken families, says Bitty, a member of the Ernakulam Juvenile Justice Board.
As per a Central Government notification, working at homes and hotels has been classified as hazardous, and incidents of children under 18 years of age being employed as a domestic help or at a hotel need to be reported. “We counsel the family and help the offenders understand what they are doing is wrong,” she says.
The campaign, which was launched recently in Ernakulam, needs to be aired on as many channels in the prime time slot, says the team. “We are waiting for sponsors; we hope that at least a few socially committed corporates will come forward,” they say.
If you witness an act of crime against a woman, call 9846700100. If it is a child who is in trouble, call 1098.
