Bhubaneswar: With a view to end sexual violence against women and children and create fear among the culprits, Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan kick-started a rally from Mumbai December 20 last year. The rally, titled Dignity March, will travel 10,000 km through 200 districts of 24 states and culminate in New Delhi February 23.
The rally arrived in Bhubaneswar Tuesday and its participants will meet the City police and government official here.
With its arrival in Bhubaneswar, the rally has reached its half-way mark traversing 5000 km in 27 days. The participants have already traversed through Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and areas of Odisha such as Nabarangpur, Balasore, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Bhubaneswar and will reach Cuttack Wednesday.
Addressing the media here Tuesday, Ashif Sheikh, convenor of Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan, said, “We aim to end the victim shaming of women and children who are survivors of sexual violence. At the same time, the programme wants to shift the social humiliation on to the perpetrators and create fear among the culprits by spreading the message that their crime won’t go unpunished.”
“There is need for stronger actions to deter the perpetrators, who in absence of any legal action, as children and parents do not report the matter, get encouragement. Especially in cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children and child trafficking, there is a big gap between the rate at which the problem is expending and our response to it,” he said.
The Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan had conducted a nation-wide online survey wherein they found that 95 per cent of incidents of violence against women and children are not reported and the victims are shamed. Moreover, they are under constant fear of stigmatisation by the society. In the case of children, the most crimes go unnoticed leading to impunity of culprits.
The survey also revealed that government data on incidents of sexual violence against women and children is less valid as only 2 per cent of incidents have been reported to the police.
Meanwhile, during its visit to various regions in Odisha, the team found that the state has its fare share of sexual violence cases. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) 2016 data highlights a grim picture vis-à-vis the status of women and children in the state. As per the data, cases of crime against children in Odisha has increased by staggering 686 per cent from 418 in 2012 to 3286 in 2016, while crime against women has seen an increase of 49 per cent from 11,988 in 2012 to 17,837 in 2016. As many as
10,748 crimes against children and 75,748 crimes against women have been reported in Odisha over the last five year (2012-2016)
Also with 6.2 per cent conviction rate for crimes against women and with 92.3 per cent cases pendency rate in the state reveals a sordid state of affairs, said Uma Kanta Sahoo, another member of Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan.
On the occasion several victims narrated their stories to the media. Narrating her struggle, Anita (name changed) of Madhya Pradesh said, “I was raped in my house when my husband has gone out for work at night. We went to the police station next morning to file the case but were discouraged by the policemen saying that it will give more trouble. During the medical tests doctors refused to treat my injuries and questioned my intentions. We are also facing trouble in the court with repeated hearings and pressures from the accused to compromise the case. However, I will continue to fight for justice” she said.