CHILDLINE 1098 Service » Case Studies » Violence

PHYSICAL ABUSE

•  Action against Corporal Punishment

This intervention involves Savithri, a 12-year old girl from Amaravathivilai village, Kanyakumari District. This girl who is from a poor family was severely beaten by her headmistress for coming late to school and as a result of the beating fractured her arm. Her sister called up CHILDLINE 1098 and asked for help. When CHILDLINE met the school authorities, they did not listen. It was only after they were warned about the existing government legislations and threatened legal action, that the authorities apologised and agreed to meet CHILDLINE's terms. The girl was later admitted to the government higher secondary school in Thoppoor.

DOMESTIC ABUSE

•  Rehabilitation from an Abusive Family Atmosphere

This intervention revolves around young Saurav Ghosh who was living in an abusive family atmosphere. The boy's mother is mentally unstable and his father would abuse and beat the boy and his sister every day. One day because the boy stole some money from his father as he was hungry, he was abandoned at one of Kolkata's railway stations. CHILDLINE Agartala was alerted by CHILDLINE Kolkata and a team was sent to Kolkata. The boy was produced before the CWC and was admitted to a home there. The CHILDLINE team met with the father who refused to take the child back. The CWC then requested the police to intervene. After a lot of trouble, the police made the boy's father give a statement in writing that he would take care of his family.

MURDER AND RAPE OF A GIRL CHILD

•  The Rape and Murder of a Young Girl

CHILDLINE Nagpur was informed by a concerned adult about the rape and murder of a four-year old little girl named Mumtaz. Her parents had informed the police and after much investigation it was found out that the girl was last seen in the company of a 45-year-old man. When the police apprehended the man, he initially denied everything but after some tough questioning, he finally confessed to raping and murdering the little girl. He also admitted that he had thrown the body into an open drain. The police arrested the man and put him into jail. Due to the extreme anger of the people over the incident, riots broke out and the case got a lot of media coverage. CHILDLINE stepped in and organised a series of awareness programmes on how to protect children from sexual abuse and the public was asked to call 1098 whenever they needed help for a child in distress. Initially the police had closed the case but thanks to the advocates with the CWC board, the case was reopened and is ongoing.