by Anuradha Bakshi | Dec 10, 2006 | ghaziabad girls
I have been perturbed about the future of the ghaziabad girls. Often when I am uneasy about something I sit quietly and let my thoughts wonder in an unbridled way. It fills the terrible emptiness that threatens to devour me, and often brings some solutions or at least some direction in which to proceed.
I can imagine the girls in their Mathura home, with no known face, huddled together in the cold wondering what will happen to them. They must have been subjected to humiliating medical examinations, incessant questioning by total strangers and much more. No matter how indulgent one is, any government run shelter in Uttar Pradesh must not be a great place.
The ghaziabad girls as they are known all have names. I know a few: Ila, Preeti, Meena, Rinki. Wonder who gave them those names. Maybe someone who loved them, as one girl did mention her mother living in a Delhi slum. They had been living in that house of horrors learning to survive, comforting and protecting each other as best they could. Now they face the unknown, even the threat of being separated. What an ordeal that must be.
The abuser is behind bars for just another 6 days. I wonder what the charge sheet will look like. He may just be able to walk free if one is not vigilant. Have the girls been able to tell their story, will they have to face theur abuser.
Wonder what one can do toe ensure that justice is done. When I first wrote about the plight of these girls, there were many reactions. As the story unfolded one could feel the palpable anger that it brought. Kaveeta wrote about it passionately and came up with the idea of concerting efforts in a wiki simply called we need you.
Yes, that is the bottom line: we need you, you here being every human being with a shred of decency, every person who claims caring for children, every one who believes in justice. In the recent past we have seen the power of civil society in many high profile cases. We need the same civil society to stand up for these girls who have no father, sister or peer group to help them, but just have you!
Please join our signature campaign
by Anuradha Bakshi | Dec 8, 2006 | ghaziabad girls, two indias
One week ago we were celebrating the rescue of the girls after a 24 hours vigil! Most of us would have liked them to come to Nirmal Chayya Delhi as initially planned. But, in spite of the presence of two autonomous central bodies. National Commission for Women, and the central reserve Police Force, reality struck: we were in Uttar Pradesh, a state known for all the wrong reasons.
One week ago people across India were watching the story unfold on TV and voicing their horror. It took the Supreme Court of India’s intervention to see that the girls were rescued and the abuser arrested.
A hearing was held on the 5th but the medical reports and the NHRC account was not ready. Slowly the media moved on to other things and the little girls once again became invisible. The nest hearing was for today. I searched desperately for some news but in vain. At 5 pm I called Anchal and was told that the hearing was again postponed.
We are all too aware of the ways our legal system functions but how can one not be disturbed by numerous questions that remain unsanswered. One cannot but remember the fact that for over 20 hours the girls and their abuser remained sequestered together, and wonder whether they were threatened.
The Supreme Court granted them security but one to be supervised by the administrator of a UP town; will the medical officer give a honest report. That the girls were ill treated dirty and lived in squalor was there for all to see. But what about the sexual abuse. This is no a rape case and remembering the contempt with which the swami dismissed the girls as being of bad character may lead to him being able to get away. He can simply say that they were abused by someone else!One of the persons who has visited the ashram every week shared another chilling fact; She was shown a register with 80 odd names. In her opinion there were about 60 odd girls when she first went, only 43 were rescued. Where are the missing girls.
We have launched a signature campaign mainly aimed at creating a support group and giving a voice to these girls.
Please join it
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by Anuradha Bakshi | Dec 7, 2006 | ghaziabad girls
In recent days we have witnessed many convictions of high profile people. yesterday the Supreme Court passed a landmark judgment stating that no permission is needed to prosecute public servants charged with corruption case.
Most of the aforementioned cases have come to close because of public outcry. And with new tools such as the Right to Information Act, we are inching towards a day where corruption will be hopefully contained.
Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear the cases of the 40 odd little girls who were rescued their tormentor barely a week ago. A week has gone by and they are yesterday’s news, the media has moved on. These girls do not have mothers, or friends, or fathers to fight for them and get the justice. Their abuser does have supporters or a least the money require to hire some!
Yet these almost invisible souls need a voice and only we can give them one. Some may say that they are many more such cases and maybe they are right, but that does not give us the right to hide behind indifference. If the medical reports tomorrow do not mention sexual abuse, then the case is almost lost.
This case is not just about these girls, the very ones that their abuser dismissed with contempt, but it is to seek justice for all those girls who were in that ashram before them and seem to have gone missing, and for all the girls who are being abused.
Rescuing the girls was just the beginning of a long journey. On the one hand these little girls have to be rehabilitated and knowing the realities of many of the state and government run centres, one has to think beyond that. Remember there are young girls, small ones and challenged ones, each having specific needs. They all carry deep scars, that need to be healed with love and care. On the other hand the abuser needs to be nailed. let us not forget that no matter what transpires, one cannot forget the abysmal conditions they lived in.
We need to do whatever we can. Please joing our signature campaign and add your voice to ours
We hope and pray that justice will be done.
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by Anuradha Bakshi | Dec 5, 2006 | ghaziabad girls, utpal
Once you choose hope, anything’s possible said Christopher Reeve and he knew what it meant.
In the past few days many have written about the plight of the ghaziabad orphans. Most have expressed anger, outrage and their desire to help the girls and see the abuser punished. Some have expressed their helplessness and hopelessness. This post is for these very people.
When project why began I chose hope. And it has not let me down though sometimes it is a long time coming. It is hope that saw many broken heart repaired, it is hope guided us through our worst moments when all seemed lost, it is hope that led me to act when I first came to know about the girls despite the fact that many had failed.
Tomorrow another story of hope crosses an important milestone. Utpal’s mom comes out of rehab and goes to very place where her daughter is now, a lovely NGO where she can learn many skills and prepare for her new life. And that is not all in a couple of weeks little Utpal will hoin them and the little family will be reunited.
All this because when I first saw Utpal at a time when everyone and everything had given up on him, I saw hope in his beautiful eyes, a hope I held on to..
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by Anuradha Bakshi | Dec 3, 2006 | ghaziabad girls
When we first heard of the ghaziabad ashram, it was at a gathering where the ashram was presented as a humanitarian project needing help. two visits were made by us on the pretext of cleaning, but in the hope of getting some of the girls to vindicate what I intuitively felt when I saw some pictures being projected on a bare wall at the aforesaid meet.
I knew that something was terribly wrong but also realised that we were faced by a sinister enemy. That is when we decided to seek the help of the media.
The rest is public knowledge now but I was still disturbed by the let us call it ‘foreign’ connection. As I set out to browse the net for some added information I came upon this page. At best it is a source of foreign funds for the baba and thus makes us wonder whether he has the required clearances, and at worst it is something more alarming as browsing the site is rather disquieting and makes us wonder if there is another side to the story. Look at the titles of their meets and you come upon themes like sexual magic, and journeys to the core of sensuality!
As I said this is the worst case scenario, maybe the trust lies somewhere in between. However what is important is that the unholy holy man is not set free and that we get at the bottom of the story. recent reports show that the man has garnered support and even threatening calls are being made to those who have offered to help the girls.
As many have said, there must be more such instances. We need to act in keep the pressure on. The man and his acolytes have to be booked.
To those of you who still have doubts, the ashram was worst than a concentration camp. The children lived in pure hell. If you still have doubts look at this picture:
this young mentally challenged girl was caught on camera on three different days weeks apart! She just sat in one place, amidst filth, as if time did not exist, locked in frozen immobility, maybe her way of protecting herself!
What we need to understand is that these are vulnerable and wounded kids whose testimony may still change because of fright and fear. Our role is to ensure that this do not happen!
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