Badlapur effect: Cops intensify awareness drives in schools

MUMBAI: Students at Aryan High School, Girgaum, were taken aback when police personnel walked in at the school’s annual day function on Wednesday. A team from D B Marg police station was there to initiate elementary conversation on sexual behaviour through an understanding of “good touch” and “bad touch” among pre-teens.
This is one of the many programmes that Mumbai police have undertaken to spread awareness among children about sexual abuse and cyber frauds. The awareness programmes, which were envisioned and implemented in 2007-08, lost steam over time. They have been administered a fresh lease of life after sexual assaults on two minor girls in a Badlapur school allegedly by a member of a cleaning staff last month.
The programmes are being implemented in two parts. Mumbai police’s protection and security branch, which has a dedicated team of around 10 people including an officer, has held 133 sessions this year amongst around 20,000 people, mostly school and college students – the numbers were bolstered after the incident in Badlapur school on August 16. The second programme is implemented by Nirbhaya Pathaks, which exist at each of the 95 police stations in Mumbai; each Pathak comprising 10 police women. The groups have been visiting four to five schools every week over the last two weeks.
On Wednesday, police sub-inspector Pallavi Vyapari, a member of the Nirbhaya Pathak, and senior inspector Vinay Ghorpade of the D B Marg police station were tasked with the job at the Girgaum school, under directions of Mohit Garg, deputy commissioner of police, Zone II. Vyapari warmed up to the students with a conversation on their choice of mobile phone games – a lifeline for this demographic. After a rush of enthusiastic responses, she veered the discussion on the presence of predators online, how to recognise suspicious links that pop-up while scrolling social media sites and how certain apps are designed to rob their parents’ hard-earned money.
While telling them not to accept friend’s requests from strangers online, Vyapari ventured into the core subject – physical contacts that are comforting, and therefore can be termed “good touch” and contacts that cause discomfort which can be termed “bad touch”. “Patting on the back, high-fives and hugs are calming whereas any touch that incites pain or fear must be called out,” said Vyapari to the students.
She ended the session by giving away telephone numbers of the Mumbai police control room — 100 and 112 – and the cyber helpline number — 1930 – where the children can call if they come across any untoward incident or fraud being committed.
“We have already conducted sessions on sexual abuse and installed CCTV cameras in our school at various spots. We have around 252 students, of both genders, in our secondary section. Most of them come from families in the low-income group, residing in Colaba Fishermen’s Colony, Mantralaya servant’s quarters, Agripada, Banganga and Charni Road,” said Aamod Uspakar, chairman of the Aryan Education Society, that runs the semi-English medium school. He applauded the endeavour by the police, as “awareness among the children also translates to education for their parents”.
Apart from these, Mumbai police also conduct programmes like Police Didi and Jagrut Mumbaikar, the brainchild of police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, special commissioner Deven Bharti and joint commissioner of police Satyanarayan Chowdhury. While the former is an initiative to spread awareness on sexual abuse among children in densely populated slums, the other programme is conducted in malls, hospitals, corporate and government offices, railway stations, colleges and other public places during festivals like Ganeshotsav and Navratri, said Ganesh Gawde, DCP, protection and security branch.
“Our drive has increased since the Badlapur case. Personnel from every police station have been visiting schools, colleges, hospitals and offices, and also trying to educate school children about new criminal laws, stricter provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and how it mandates everyone to report sexual crimes against children and consequences of not reporting of sexual assaults,” said a senior police officer.
Prabha Raul, a police inspector attached to the protection and security branch, added, “We inform the public how to identify suspicious objects, spread awareness on crimes against women and children, sexual harassment at workplaces and how to report the crimes. We also appraise the public about the provisions under POCSO Act, and also how they can avoid getting addicted to drugs, and save themselves from frauds offering unrealistic returns on investments.”
After the drive was intensified, police officials said, every day eight to twelve cases under the POCSO Act are being reported in the city. In the fortnight since the Badlapur protests of August 20, over 130 POCSO cases have been registered.
A police officer puts it down to awareness and ‘zero burking policy’ (registering FIRs as soon as a complaint is made, without engaging in exaggerated questioning) when it comes to crime against women and children.
“Compared to other cities, Mumbai has fewer cases of burking. These programmes create a positive impact among children, teachers and parents. Thanks to the drives, many cases have surfaced,” said a senior officer.