Helpline records alarming cases of teenage girls enticed into sending nude photos, video clips, then blackmailed into sexual relations with friends of their ‘boyfriends’
Cases of sexual abuse are hardly uncommon to helplines in the city. However, of late, a new kind of horror has set alarm bells, and telephone lines, ringing. Over the past two months, Dnyana Devi Childline (1098 helpline for children in distress) has been receiving calls from girls who are being blackmailed into sexual relations by boys with whom they share a romantic relationship.
These girls, aged between 13 and 17 years, are being enticed into love affairs by these boys. Once in the relationship, the boys coerce their girlfriends to make a nude video clip or take a photograph and send it. These clips are then used to blackmail the girls into a sexual relationship with other boys. The victims do not belong to any particular social strata. Their distress is palpable, some have even contemplated suicide.
“We have seen around five such cases of which we handled four in the last two months. These girls are not uncomfortable about sending nude pictures, it’s only when the blackmail begins that they get scared. Their feelings blind them to the reality of the situation. We are now planning to talk to principals of schools and conduct awareness programmes to alert teachers and parents this. Ideally, I am against the notion of curbing children’s freedom. But situations like these make me wonder what measures to take. Besides this, it is also the addiction of children — some as young as 10 — to pornography which is bothering me,” said Dr Anuradha Sahasrabudhe, executive director, Childline.
Counsellors feel girls need to be more assertive and firmly refuse to do anything they don’t want to. “There should be programmes in schools to teach girls how to stand up for themselves and how to face problems,” said Poonam Metkar, a counsellor in PMC schools who handles the Aundh area.
Kaehalee Ghorpade, a clinical psychologist and counsellor practising in Warje said, “At that age, girls are usually exploring the world, which can only happen through experience by making mistakes. Bodily changes also occur at an earlier age. Also, with the selfie being so much in fashion, photos of women in skimpy clothes is common. These girls are naive, and the boys exploit this. A lot of these boys will be from dysfunctional families. The solution is open communication between parents and children. Instead of shying away, parents should talk to their children about sexual relationships.”
PI Smita Jadhav from the Women Grievance Redressal Cell said, “ In such cases, the guilty can get punished under the IT Act and Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code. However, we have received no complaints so far. Once someone files a complaint, we will definitely launch a search for the culprits.”
– Dr Anuradha Sahasrabudhe, executive director, Childline
Source: http://www.punemirror.in/article/2/201401152014011510134021f7cd221e/From-love-affair-to-sexual-abuse.html
