Some events in life are so unpleasant, unbelievable, and down-right cruel that after reading about it people are speechless and just stare at their laptop screens.

This such an incident. One of the worst incidents regarding young children being sexually abused has occurred at the Karjat Shelter home.  The house held around 35 children between five and fifteen years of age. The children were forced to watch pornographic movies and even perform what they saw on others. “Dabhokar and Tonde have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, for offences such as unnatural sex, wrongful confinement, insult to modesty of woman through words or gestures, and causing hurt voluntarily.” The two disgusting people responsible for the act, Ajit Dabhokar, the founder of the shelter home, and his assistant, Lalita Tonde, have been arrested for committing the inhumane crimes.

Ashok Jangle, director of Raigad Childline, who was responsible for recording the students’ statements says the man raped the older girls and the woman forced older boys to have sex with her. Children who resisted the demands of the two owners were not only locked up but also forced to eat dog excreta. If the child then threw up, he or she was forced to eat the throw up. As of now, only five victims have been spoken to who agreed to have their statements recorded. Of the five one is completely traumatized and refuses to even speak.

As a response to the event, the Women and Child Development department has decided that in 60 days all shelter homes must be registered. Boom. This is the type of quick and powerful change that has to take place in other parts of Indian society that need a lot of attention. The WCD has provided a perfect example of how to powerfully and efficiently put an end to an issue in society. They figured out the problem; shelter homes like the karjat are in existence but local police has no idea of its existence. They quickly initiated change; all shelter homes must be registered in sixty days. They made sure there was no way out; all shelter homes not registered would be considered illegal.

How someone can sleep at night after treating helpless children in such a cold-hearted fashion is beyond me. The child abuse that is going on in India is a peripheral concern that should no longer be on the outskirts of society.

[Image Attribute: Vijaya Narasimha]