Highlights Of #Justice4EveryChild Telethon: An Initiative To Stop Child Sexual Abuse

We leave you with some of the highlights from the #Justice4EveryChild telethon
To help ensure legal and mental support to child victims of sexual abuse and rape and their families, click here to contribute: https://special.ndtv.com/justice-for-every-child-87/donate-now

'We Have To Fight To Win,' Says Kailash Satyarthi On Fighting Child Abuse


As the 5-hour #Justice4EveryChild drew to a close, Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Laureate talked about the various challenges he has faced in this 40-year journey fighting for the rights of children and how the work will continue. He says, "It is very challenging but that's why we are here. A lot of work is needed of course and we have learned a lot of lessons since I have been working. The use of children is an age-old problem that requires many ways to tackle; one is rule of law, one is social protection, education at large and also the challenges related to the new technologies. These are the issues that we need to take up and I'm confident that we will win in this challenge. It doesn't only mean punishment to the perpetrators."

Asmita Satyarthi, Trustee, Bal Ashram Trust explains the role of Bal Ashram Trust


Bal Ashram was formed in the 90s for the need for a rehabilitation center for children who have been rescued from sexual abuse since they needed a place to get over the trauma and they need to be aware of the rights that they have. There are two important grams where the most important focus is democratic participation of those who have suffered.

During the #Justice4EveryChild telethon, Sundar Krishnan, Director, Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation explains how can adults better monitor what the child is doing


We look at the child sexual abuse material issue from a completely different standpoint. We want to provide comprehensive suit of solutions when we look at this entire issue. We divide this into awareness and deterrence; detection and reporting; response and support. When we look at the prevention and deterrence part, we would like to provide tech solutions in the form of digital literacy, age detection tools and making sure that automatic filters are there. Similarly, at the awareness level, we have to disseminate information related to various trends that are emerging whether it could be in the form of sextortion, grooming which has become now quite a kind of a trend. Video streaming content and self-generated content, youngsters feel it's okay to share nude pictures online. We are seeing these trends in India as well. We must constantly monitor that.

The pandemic has led to an increase in cybercrimes, says Madhukar Pandey, Additional Director-General, Maharashtra Police at the #Justice4EveryChild telethon


We have Operation Blackface launched in 2020. It was a two-hour surprise that we have all these tools. In a period of 18-19 months, 11,000 reports were generated and 200 cases were registered. We have found to our surprise that this issue of child pornography is very serious and that there's a perception that this happens abroad and in Germany, but we have found that this does happen in the country, The pandemic has led to an increase in cybercrimes, the way people have been interacting even with families, the exploitation has been happening in the family itself. In some cases, we have been following some forensic tools called 'Peda', hunt for pedophiles, and child pornography and this is such a case where the victim doesn't report the crime, so we go for darknet monitoring and do old fashioned intelligence - we look for signals, sometimes we are successful. We had a case recently with help from Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, we found a person selling pornographic material.

Manoj Abraham, Nodal Officer, Kerala Police Cyberdome talks about Grapnel, a specialised tool developed to deal with online Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)


Grapnel is basically a tool that we developed with the assistance of ICPF, through hackathon, basically where we called all those people who work in this hackathon to develop this tool because the darknet is one area that we found that a lot of CSAM material, that is Child Sexual exploitative material was being sold there, bought there and transmitted. So the tools that were available to the police were not enough to really break into the darknet, because of the encryptions that were there, and the inbuilt system that were there. So Grapnel is basically a tool for crawling into those systems, where it indexes whatever keyword searches that we give in that. For example, in Kerala, we are looking for Kerala children's videos. So Grapnel will go and really search the entire dark web and bring back everything which is connected to that keyword. So it is then working on that, and looking into the aspects of who is sharing it, who's transmitting those images also. So the Grapnel is basically a crawler with all these artificial intelligence, in-built into the system, which helps the investigator to really crack these crimes against children in the dark web.

Even our government needs to be proactive to create a society where our children are safe, says Actor Sushmita Sen as she lends her support to the #Justice4EveryChild campaign


The problem is calling children a "cause". Kailash Ji has beautifully said, "children should be free to be children" and that's our job as grown-ups. Ensuring safety and security of each child and their childhood is our responsibility. I am very privileged to be a part of that voice and I will always support children.

We have gotten so used to hearing that children are our future and are our legacy but they are the purest creation of life, I have always believed that and we must preserve this purity so that we can nurture our strengths and innate abilities. We have such a young population in our country who don't have the same opportunity or the level of safety which is their basic right.

Real life hero Netresh Sharma, Rajasthan Police constable joins #Justice4EveryChild telethon


During Karauli riots, Netresh Sharma picked up a baby from a burning building and ran for his life. Recalling the incident, he says, "The child's mother shouted 'someone save my child' and I was wearing my uniform at the time and as per my duty, I had to save the child or anyone in the scenario but especially a child who can;t speak."

Meet Sunita, Delhi Police constable, posted in the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) who traces missing or kidnapped children and reunite them with their parents


I have been working towards tracing children, especially those who have been missing or have been kidnapped. I have traced around 90 children so far. I first take information from stations if any child from Delhi is missing or kidnapped. We get information about children from other states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh from their homes.

Vasvi Bharat Ram, Joint Vice Chairperson, The Shri Ram Schools talks about Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation's work in Madhya Pradesh at the #Justice4EveryChild telethon


They have supported more than 900 families, and 900 children who have been abused, they're trying to get them legal support, and emotional support. They have also had to bring children back to schools, children who had dropped out for various reasons. Families that had been struggling, have got them attached to government social security schemes so that they have some means of income. They have also conducted raids, where they have helped bring out children from situations that they have been put into and have not been able to help themselves. So it's wonderful to see the kind of work that they are doing. And I really hope that this continues across India, and more and more children and families are helped by this initiative. And I really would like to urge others also to come forward and support this initiative, to help in whichever way they can, because it's only together that we can actually make any kind of difference.

Most of the time families fail to understand the symptoms of child abuse: Kamna Chhibber, Head, Mental Health, Department of Mental Health and Behavourial Sciences, Fortis Healthcare


I think it's very important to talk about the mental health well being of children especially those who have gone through these. We have been working with adults to know how to pick up these signs, to know what they're (children) going through and we are working on this with schools, teachers and parents and everyone around children to pick up indicators to find out what the child is going through. It's important to give basic counselling and there's a dearth of experts in the country and we are unable to give adequate help at the time hence, it can lead to the severity which leads to more suicides, so we are trying to create more resources and telling children how to use them; information regarding where you can seek help and those are places where you actively work on for children.

Child sexual abuse, if not addressed properly, destroys the child by leaving behind a massive scar in the mind of the child victim: Jiten Doshi, Co-founder & CIO, Enam AMC


Children are the future of our nation. The work being done by Kailash Satyarthi Foundation is extraordinary. This is the need of the hour for our nation, and supporting this movement allows children the freedom to blossom, and become future assets of our nation. Child sexual abuse, if not addressed properly, destroys the child by leaving behind a massive scar in the mind of the child victim. Sexual abuse is a national crisis that Kailash Ji has been able to identify and address. We at Enam AMC are proud to be associated with the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation.

The Justice For Every Child campaign is a great initiative to help those who can't fight for themselves, to get the right justice. We have joined hands with the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation to work towards preventing children from being exploited, by supporting the Bal Mitra Gram, and Bal Mitra Mandal programmes, that ensure that all children of the intervention area are in school, and protected from all kinds of exploitation - be it child marriage, child labor, child trafficking, or sexual exploitation. Creating a safety net for the children by involving not just their families, but also their teachers, community members, law enforcers, and public representatives can help children protect the children in the long term. I urge everyone to do their bit and join this campaign, which is a very, very solid campaign in this country. And it's the need of the hour to save the children of this country.

Child abuse starts in the family itself, says Rituparna Sengupta, Actor and Producer at the #Justice4EveryChild telethon


Cinema is the mirror of society and we are trying to delve into the aspect of these issues. The kind of cinema I'm into, we are trying out best to get into such issues; well as you know in our society there's a lot of censorship but cinema is maturing by the day and whenever I read a script I always try and support and be a part of a kind of cinema where we can give new fodder to such issues. I have some experience with this since my friend's daughter went through such trauma and abuse. It's very important to get a complete hold of the mental health of the family. I think these kinds of things need to be discussed more and we need to push these things more and make a statement of it. The legal system is not strong right now to punish such abusers who need such harsh treatment and trials and errors are going throughout and only the person who has suffered knows what it's like, but through cinema, we still need a rural push. Directors feel threatened whether their subject will be well received or not, because child abuse starts in the family itself.

'The Judicial System Needs To Be Overhauled To Ensure Timely Justice For Victims Of Abuse'
Joining from Mumbai to lend their support for the #Justice4EveryChild telethon panelists - Niranjan Hiranandani, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Hiranandani Group, Dr Anjali Chhabria, Psychiatrist & Director, Mind Temple Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Mental Health therapist and Kunickaa Sadanand Actor and Lawyer, discussed issues ranging from mental health, need for timely justice and raising awareness among students and teachers about child rights.

I am so pleased to be here and my congratulations to Mr Satyarthi. While being in Mumbai we run 14 colleges and 6 schools, I want to apologise and I don't remember conducting a single program about child abuse. We have not got down to educating these children about such issues and corporate India needs to take up actions to this cause. I personally commit to start such programs in the coming years so that every child has knowledge about what to do in these circumstances. I personally commit 6 lakh children will be educated on this. I think we need to bring about more awareness and what you're doing through NDTV is extremely important. Child or women abuse is generally kept under the table but I think education and dissimenating information is extremely important and we must commit ourselves. I hope to get some guidance through Kailash Satyarthi. We have 2,500 teachers and we would all like to learn from you as to how we can actually do it.

'Child sexual abuse cases are grossly under reported'
Joining the #Justice4EveryChild telethon from Kolkata, Ananya Chakraborti, Chairperson, West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Saira Shah Halim, CPI(M) MLA candidate and Rights Activist highlighted the importance of families to come out and report the crime against children, as that is the first step that is going to help not only in punishing the culprits but also in preventing such heinous crimes going forward.

Sudhir Tangri, Country General Manager & VP, Keysight Technologies explains how is organisation is working with Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation for children


Kailash Satyarthi Ji's campaigns, especially the Justice For Every Child is a fantastic and a powerful tool to empower children. Especially the ones who are underprivileged, or who have been facing abuse. And we at Keysight are proud to work closely with the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation for the last two years. And our focus has been specifically on education, educating the girl child. We have been supporting children who have lost either one or both of their parents due to the pandemic. And through this programme, we are ensuring that these children continue with their education, and do not face any kind of exploitation due to their vulnerable position. So that's one thing that we are doing with the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation. The other thing that we are doing is we are also working with two Banjara communities. And again, we are trying to create a safety net around the vulnerable children and link them back to mainstream education.

Child sexual abuse and rape is a national crisis for India: NR Narayana Murthy, Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Infosys


Child sexual abuse and rape is a national crisis for India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau report for 2019, three children are raped, and five children are sexually assaulted every hour in India. This is a shame. Justice For Every Child is a national campaign, which ensures that the victims of child sexual abuse and rape, get timely justice and mental health support to enable them to heal, and to continue their lives with dignity & freedom. This is an initiative of Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation. The campaign seeks to intervene in 5,000 cases of child sexual abuse and rape, in 100 fast-tracked special courts, in 100 districts in the country, with the highest backlogs of cases of child abuse, sexual harassment, and exploitation. Over the last one year alone, the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation has rescued over 10,000 children from exploitative child labor and trafficking. As a part of the campaign, 5,255 cases of child sexual abuse were identified. My friends, I believe that every Indian citizen is an important stakeholder of the Justice For Every Child campaign. I urge every Indian to do his or her bit and help in the creation of an accountable and sustainable child protection ecosystem. Come friends, let's join our hands and support Kailash Satyarthi Ji's call for ensuring justice for every child, and help every child to be just a happy child.

Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Laureate highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children


Children have become the worst victims of this pandemic as they have lost a parent or both. Many are being trafficked because parents have gone into poverty even abroad. The numbers of abuse, labour and assault are increasing, hence we need support not only physical but financial,mental and in all aspects. That is the reason we organised a long march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, to sensitise people and especially the children. What has been achieved is children have come up and started speaking. Silence is the main violence, we are trying to educate and sensitise parents and teachers to take a pledge to reach out and talk to children so that children can speak to someone.

We need to do everything we can to ensure every single victim of child abuse gets full support they need, says SS Ahluwalia, Founder, Dominvs Group, London at the #Justice4EveryChild telethon


As an Indian, I feel a deep commitment to help solve the problems that we face as a country. Today, I hope you will join me. It's been encouraging to see such strong support for this year's Justice For Every Child campaign. And this telethon brings much needed awareness to a crucial cause. I remember the first time I met Kailash, his passion, courage and conviction was really infectious. His work, and that of his charity, have made a difference to millions of children all over the country. The results speak for themselves. Over the last year alone, they have protected over 100,000 children from exploitation. But sadly, there is still so much more we can do. Millions of children suffer in silence every year. And we need to make sure that these children are not forgotten. We need to stand up and make our voices and actions heard. And we need to do everything we can to ensure every single victim of child abuse gets full support they need. Together we can make a difference. Our youth are the future of India, and the prosperity of our country depends on us nurturing the next generation. I'm doing my bit to support the Justice For Every Child campaign, which will provide legal, mental health to the child victims of abuse. Tonight I hope you will do the same. The need has never been so great. Thanks to everyone who has donated in supporting this campaign. Together we can build a brighter future for India.

Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv lends his support to the #Justice4EveryChild campaign


This campaign is a very important campaign, Justice For Every Child, to ensure that legal and others support to children victims of sexual abuse, and families, happens quickly and happens fairly. As you mentioned, this is something that the Bajaj group, and led by my father and our Chairman Emeritus Rahul Bajaj, we've been closely involved with Kailash ji's work through our companies since 2015. We know that increasing the awareness through the programme, that this campaign aims to deliver, just the fast tracked completion of court cases, the development of child friendly police stations and other such legal institutions, will lead to prevention of crime against children in the future. Also what's important is that justice that is being delivered to every victim, it will also prevent crime for many other hundreds. Hence we believe that this is a very significant initiative, and we've been very happy to support the Justice For Every Child campaign.

You can also help ensure #Justice4EveryChild and legal and mental support to child victims of sexual abuse and rape and their families. Contribute now: https://special.ndtv.com/justice-for-every-child-87/donate-now

Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Laureate talks about the need for a campaign like #Justice4EveryChild


We wanted to help those mothers and families who have been dealing with these rapes, as we can seen the parents are helpless and the police is not helping either. We saw in Jalpaiguri as the accused got bail. This is very common in thousands of cases. Hence, it's important they get legal assistance. It is very sad that the children get traumatised hence mental health help is extremely important even if it's from a non-governmental organisation (NGOs) or the government, it's extremely important. There are lots of issues hence we thought of getting this campaign for aam aadmi (common man). It has never ever happened anywhere in the world, where a TV channel could take up such a big campaign that we have done in the country.

Less than 15 minutes to go for #Justice4EveryChild telethon
The stage is set. Our anchors are ready. What are your waiting for? Join us in the fight against child sexual abuse.

When innocent school time, friendships are replaced with pain, shame trauma, it should haunt each and every one of us. Nearly 132 children were abused every single day in 2020. What can you and I do about this? Join NDTV and Kailash Satyarthi's campaign Justice For Every Child. Watch a special 5-hour telethon on May 8 from 4pm onwards.

Child sexual abuse is a national crisis. With your help, we can strengthen systems for timely justice and rehabilitation for our children who have suffered from sexual abuse
Join the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation (KSCF) and NDTV in our fight for justice for every child. Here's how you can support justice: https://special.ndtv.com/justice-for-every-child-87/donate-now

5 children are sexually abused every hour: Kailash Satyarthi
To ensure timely justice for child victims of sexual abuse, extend your helping hand to #Justice4EveryChild campaign and donate now.