One of the extreme forms of child sexual abuses in recent time was uncovered in December 2006 in Nithari when the skulls and bones of 19 missing children were discovered. Simple awareness about child sexual abuse in Nithari community could have saved many…keeping this in mind chuppi todo campaign reached Nithari to educate children about safe and unsafe touch.

On the occasion of teacher’s day best gift a teacher can get is to get a training to handle child sexual abuse. A chuppi todo workshop was organized for children and teacher at Sradar Patel School sector 31 Noida. The workshop was followed by a rally in Nithari Village. More than Three hundred children participated in this rally along with teachers.

Sanjay Singh, National convener and Founder Chuppi Todo Campaign lead this campaign “Chuppi Todo is a campaign to educate children about safe and unsafe touch in context of child sexual abuse. Child Sexual Abuse affects a child negatively on various levels: emotional, mental, physical, and sexual and continues to have a traumatizing effect throughout adult life. According to the national study in 2007 by the Ministry of Women and Child, more than 53% of children in India are exposed to some form of sexual abuse. Moreover, 50% of sexual offenders are known to the victim with boys being equally at risk as girls.”

Chuppi Todo The Chuppi Todo campaign is successfully going on in various parts of India. In 2010, Sanjay Singh, a media person and Child Rights Activist, started this campaign and has reached more than 16 cities of India in more than 100 private schools and more than 1500 government/ngo run schools. “Don’t keep mum, speak to your mom” is the slogan of this campaign.

Sanjay further added “With such overwhelming statistics a need for an intervention that prepares children to understand the fundamentals of touch and ways to deal with unsafe touch was envisaged in the form of an educational film − “Chuppi Todo” or Break the Silence. The hypothesis of the film is that if children understood unsafe touch they would say no to it and report it, thus, breaking the whole wheel of silence and guilt that perpetuates this malaise.”

Aditi Roy Basu, principal of the Sardar Patel school “ we want each and every child in our school to be safe. We invited chuppi todo team to make our children safer”

The film “Chuppi Todo” (break the silence) aims to generate awareness among children to recognize symptoms of abuse and report it to parents and other social anchors, thus breaking the silence at the personal level. This is done by simple enunciation of the ‘3 Rules of Touch’

Rule # 1: There are parts of the human body that are supposed to be private and they are usually covered by undergarments. It is important to differentiate between a ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’. Do not allow a ‘bad touch’.

Rule # 2: If someone tries to break this rule, say “NO”, shout and RUN AWAY.

Rule # 3: Tell someone you trust.

The film, further defines a “safe touch” as one that includes any or all of the following:

1) Touch someone else’s private parts

2) Someone touches his or her own private parts in front of you

3) Someone asks you to touch his or her private parts

4) Someone takes photos or videos of you with your clothes off

5) Someone shows you photos or videos of people without clothes on

Essentially, it is a touch that makes you uncomfortable. The message is reinforced through the medium of a mime as young children enact the actions of a groundnut seller caressing a child’s hand that aroused the feeling of discomfort in the child, causing the child to run away and narrate the story to his mother.

How to avoid unsafe touch? It is said that prevention is better than cure. The irreversible impact of CSA can be nipped in the bud if we really take this cause seriously. The only way is to prepare our children to handle the worst case scenario…and teach children the fundamentals of touches. There is no magic wand to ward of all possible untoward incidences related to child sexual abuse but we can make an effort. One of the ways is to educate children with the help of films like “chuppi todo” that talk about fundamentals of rules related to safe touch and unsafe touch.

Some facts:

* Sector 41 of Noida, slum area has as high as 82 % child sexual abuse cases

* 53% of children in India are sexually abused that means every second child is abused in India (according the Family and women development). This include boys and girls both.

* Every 155th minute child below 16 years raped (According to Childline)

* A child below 10 abused every 13th hour (childline)

* More than 53% children report facing one or more forms of sexual abuse. Almost 22% faced severe sexual abuse, 6% were sexually assaulted

* 50% of sexual offenders were known to the victim or were in positions of trust (family member, close relative, friend or neighbour).

* Onset of abuse is from 5 years of age

* Boys were equally at risk as girls

* Severest sexual abuse in age group of 11-16 years

* 73% of sexual abuse victims were in age groups of 11-18 year

- sanjay singh

National Convener “chuppi Todo” campaign

Ph- 9873089291