Convincing Pooja’s parents of the incestuous abuse is tough, because this is Varanasi—a traditional, morality-bound city where discussing anything sexual is taboo. But Ranjana, who receives an average of 21 such calls each month, knows this is the easiest part of the battle. She also has to fight false fir cases accusing her of spiriting away girls for prostitution, apathy and inaction by the police, even government hospitals that refuse to acknowledge a rape to save themselves additional hassles. She has woken up to a mob pelting stones at her house at 2.30 am and has had to go underground several times. So why start such a crusade?
It all began in 1996 when Ranjana, working for Mahila Samakhya in western UP, came across a case where a nine-year-old girl was raped in broad daylight by three men. "The rape was so brutal that her undeveloped uterus came out of her body. But the police arrested no one and the case was closed," she remembers. While pursuing the case till the guilty were arrested, Ranjana found child sexual abuse (CSA) was a cause no one was fighting for. So in 1997, having quit her job, she returned to her home-town Varanasi to start SARC. She had no money and no supporters. After some hectic primary research, she put out some astounding figures: like, 88 per cent of the city’s women had been sexually abused, many within their homes, since childhood. A touch alarmist, you may say, but it had the desired effect. People started listening.
Concrete aid came a year later when she was made a cry Fellow with a stipend. Now Ranjana has international organisations like Free the Slave clamouring to work with her after she won the Perdita Huston Human Rights Award this year—a small recognition for her and the network she has built: a band of volunteers and a District Forum with 85 citizens, ranging from doctors, lawyers and activists, who unite when things get ugly.And they frequently do. A whole village once turned against SARC when they sheltered a mother and child who came seeking protection from the father. "The most ridiculous questions were asked by the community, the police and administrators—why were we dragging a family matter out on to the streets and how the husband was not to be blamed if the wife couldn’t satisfy him," fumes Ranjana.
Besides such parochial attitudes, she also has to fight the ambiguous law of the land that has no separate clause dealing with CSA. "Invariably, forced penetration of objects and parts of the body like the finger into the vagina and anus and forced oral or anal intercourse are registered by the police as eve-teasing under Article 354." Ironically, the only succour in such cases is the infamous Article 377 on "unnatural sex" that can be interpreted to cover these violations. "Article 376 on rape is no help except in cases where ‘sexual intercourse’ is proved."
But with extensive awareness campaigns in schools, colleges, and communities, Ranjana hopes to stem CSA incidence by changing attitudes. "We are also trying to encourage the concept of foster care in communities where the women take turns in keeping an eye on the children while the others go out to work," she says. Undoubtedly, the sisters are doing it for themselves.
Contact Ranjana at: SARC, 147 Vindhyavasini Colony, Ardeli Bazar, Varanasi, UP. Tel: 09415225665 / 0542-3097521.
