14-Year-Old Repeatedly Raped By Cousin And Brother-In-Law, Threatened With Consequences If She Spoke Up

A student of Class 8 of a government school in Delhi, Yasmin (name changed) was growing up like any other child of her age. Living with her mother who is a social worker, her twin sister who also studies in the same class and her father who is paralysed, she dreamt of standing up on her feet when she grew up. But the ground beneath her feet caved in when she was raped by her paternal cousin Shaizan while she was sleeping on the terrace of her house. Shaken to the core, Yasmin was threatened with dire consequences by Shaizan who said that he would spread rumours about her having an affair with someone else and tarnish her reputation forever if she dared to speak out. Scared and completely at a loss of what to do, she kept mum.

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Three weeks after the horrific incident, her cousin sister and her husband Shoaib came over to their place. When her mother and her cousin sister left for the market, Shoaib raped and blackmailed her, saying that he has photos and videos of the night Shaizan raped her. He threatened to make the videos public if Yasmin informed anyone about what had just happened.

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Raped, brutalised, and intimidated, the traumatised child was too scared to speak out and kept suffering in silence. And taking advantage of her vulnerability, both Shoaib and Shaizan raped her multiple times.

The thing about child sexual abuse much more acutely is that it's a power equation. The person in the powerful position uses and disempowers the young kid for all his pleasures, most often. That is the difficult part. The child is only a helpless victim who kind of participates and carries the trauma of it, says Nimesh Desai, Director, Institute of Human Behaviour And Allied Sciences.

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Yasmin's mother got suspicious when Yasmin missed her menstrual cycle for two months. A pregnancy test confirmed her worst fears; the child was pregnant. Unable to bear the trauma any further, Yasmin broke down and narrated the entire incident to her mother. Determined to get justice for her child, Yasmin's mother registered an FIR. With the consent of Yasmin, her family and Child Welfare Committee, the pregnancy was terminated in July 2021. The FIR has been filed under Sections 376, 506 of IPC, 1860 and 6 of POCSO Act, 2012. While Yasmin's paternal cousin Shaizan is in judicial custody, the other accused – Shoaib – is missing.

Standing by the traumatised child, Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation's Bachpan Bachao Andolan is acting as a support system for the child and her family and also providing necessary legal support.

Yasmin's case makes it clear that a child is vulnerable even within the family's inner circle of trusted relatives and there needs to be open communication between parents and children so that children feel that they can speak out rather than being cowed down by threats.

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Justice For Every Child campaign will work to ensure legal and mental support to child victims of sexual abuse and rape and their families, Donate Now