Nipped in the Bud

Nipped in the Bud

Krishna Kumar (name changed) is a plus-two student from Thiruvananthapuram. He belongs to a financially stable family and he is their only child. His father provided everything the child required.  It was a happy family.  Krishnakumar was aloof often and was afraid of facing people and also often liked to be alone behind closed door. The parents thought that it was part of the character of the boy which was unlike any youth of his age. He did not have many friends too.

When Krishna was studying in Vth grade; his uncle had tried to sexually abuse the child. This was noticed by his aunty and due care was taken to solve the issue. Little did Krishna’s parents know about the continuance of abuse by Krishna’s uncle.

Previous week Krishna’s mother heard noises from the room of Krishna at 11.00pm and went to his room. After her son opened the door she found Madhu (Krishna’s uncle) hiding in a cupboard. He had climbed over the terrace of the building and Krishna had opened the door for him. The child had been abused by Madhu for the past several years.

By the first few instances of abuse, the abuser had managed to create guilt feelings in the child and had threatened him saying that it was his fault and had total control over the child so that it was impossible to escape from his clutches or to tell anybody. It was surprising that even at 17 years of age Krishna could speak out or defend himself.

It took hours of counseling to make Krishna realize that it was not his fault. Probably it will take years to bring him back to normalcy. After legal proceeding was initiated it was found that Madhu had abused several children of his relatives and even his son.

It is surprising that the parents did not realize the plight of the child even when they had only one child to take care. It is very important to talk with the children, befriend them and get to know the minute changes in their behavior in order to intervene to help the child. Home should be the first school for the child in knowledge on every aspect of life.  It is important to remember that child abuse cast a shadow the length of a life time.