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Media and Child Rights Panel Discussion
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Asian College of Journalism
12:28
Reddy opens the floor for questions where an audience member asks about how police tracks the clear history of people. The audience member also asks Pillai about how apps like Snapchat has self-generated content and when the story is viewed it disappears. The members asks how are such stories tackled.
12:30
Pillai answers insightfully, "One of the policies is that we talk a lot with adults. Sexting or taking nudes is now a part of trends. If there is any issue with your phone then you take it to the youngest person in the house. We say if you have to do it, then mask you face. Don't do it on an app like WhatsApp. Is it right to have this conversation with children? Its uncomfortable but I have to give this information to the child for his/her safety."
12:31
12:34
To an audience's question regarding clickbait links wherein the link is of an article but leads to pornography videos, Jayalakshmi says, "We have safety awareness classes. Don't open links from unreputed sources."
12:36
12:38
An audience question is posed to Jayalakshmi where she is asked that out of the 600 IP addresses that were tracked down, how many were a success and how many did not work out. Jayalakshmi answers, "Data is missing from cases in Abu Dhabi. IP addresses can be used by several at one point in time. They can only catch them if there is one person on an IP at a particular time. Punishments are stringent for these offenders, it's non-bailable."
12:40
Jayalakshmi also clarifies a problem they face, "When we get the IP machine address, we can't get the exact location. We get a broad address. It's troublesome when the IP is not from Chennai. Then we check Facebook for cell numbers," she says.
12:41
12:43
Reddy talks of an instance where a complaint was lodged in the High Court against two Facebook pages in May 2015. "They had "horrific sexual comments" about children. The judicial system is so slow and tinged that after may 2015, the first hearing was yesterday. The cross examination too was 'hilarious'," she says.
12:44
Reddy now asks the panel about a case where a Dutch guy had children pornography all stored in a series in Mahabalipuram. She says these people have copies and are extremely technologically equipped.
12:46
Thirumurthy asked the police about the victims and survivors in the videos. "How does the police intend to track them down? Is it only just arresting the person accessing child sexual abuse material?"
12:48
12:49
Thirumurthy says that when she was going through the model solutions for different countries, she found that UK had identified 185 such survivors. She asks, "What can we do for the same thing to happen in India?"
12:50
12:51
Reddy says that regarding the rape videos that were with The Supreme Court, "the CBI had actually tracked down each one of the victims. All forces came together and the victims were found out".
12:53
An audience member asks about the reaction of parents and how they are sensitive about it, considering mostly they are not supportive or are apprehensive about it.
12:55
Pillai says, "The victim bit is almost left out in the Indian perspective. The general sensitivity that is needed is that if you handover your phone to the police, are you comfortable? We are in a society where the offender is not moved but the victim has to move houses. But various offline factors are taken into consideration while handling these cases."
12:57
Thirumurthy adds an anecdote, "We have reported several child abuse cases where the parents didn't want to file a case but they have taken their child to the hospital because of the abuse and then the doctors after examining the victim informs the police". She talks about a case where a girl was raped by a juvenile and then later gangraped. "The boy then threatened her to not tell her parents or else he'll kill them. Hence the girl didn't want to tell her parents and even after her parents found out, they were reluctant to come forward initially," she says.
12:58
Thirumurthy has also worked on a case where a man had lured girl in his flat by letting her play with a puppy. "He rapes her and then kills her and burns her body. However the parent of the child fought the case till the man got convicted and was awarded a death penalty. So there have been both types of cases.," she says.
1:00
Jayalakshmi says that "Since the past 8 months, 50% parents have been understanding of child post abuse cases and fight for their child. After agencies show support the parents get courage to come forward. Psychological counselling of the parents and the children is needed. That's the only way to convince them to report the crime. The trend is changing in recent times."
1:01
1:03
Reddy brings surprising facts to the table. she informs that even if one puts aside the reported cases, out of 100 cases only three would consider reporting the cases and only one will end up reporting it.
She adds that child abuse is the most undisclosed issue. Only 12% would disclose it and only 1-2% would report it. All these happened in 'Tulir'. She also says that media sensationalises the whole matter and that is one of the major factors which prevents them from reporting.
1:04
Pillai says, "We provide rehabilitation services to children. If it's a basti family we arrive at their address and get access. If it's a middle-class family we are shooed away because of the power dynamics. Also, cases take so long in courts that people lose hope."
1:05
1:06
Adding on to Pillai's views, Reddy also says that a mere death penalty doesn't work. "Very slow judicial system is one of the major reasons," she says. She talks of other cases where the courts demand weird procedures which slows down the procedure and even instills fear.
An audience member asks about media's responsibility of reporting child sexual abuse.
1:07
Reddy sighs and says the media should be "responsible to that responsibility"
1:08
Jayalakshmi opines, "It is good that media takes responsibility. We should not mention victim's name, as it's legally wrong and the media does not violate that but journalists have been putting out the victims's residence, geographical residence. This puts them at the risk of exposure, which endangers the child and makes him/her more vulnerable."
1:09
Reddy now talks of the industry's responsibility in this regard. For example, Facebook has different set of rules for different countries.
1:13
Thirumurthy says cooperation from Facebook and WhatsApp is required. She once spoke to a police officer who told her that Facebook and WhatsApp don't co-operate with them citing their community guidelines.
1:14
Thirumurthy asks Jayalakshmi ,"What is the balance between every citizen's privacy and also stopping crimes at such a grassroot level?"
1:15
Jayalakshmi says, "I've gone through the procedures of other countries but it's indeed difficult to get material but it's not difficult to get child sex abuse and pornography from Facebook and WhatsApp . They give details in two days. We keep a history sheet and track according to the material collected from all over India and abroad."
1:16
An audience member asks, "Did family boycott the victim? What was the reaction of the close ones?"
1:17
Jayalakshmi replies, "Parents didn't react. They only had a change in point of view when it reached the ears of their friends. They acknowledged it but didn't lodge a case."
1:18
Another question is taken from the audience, "Does denial on part of the victims' guardian protect the victim?"
1:19
Pillai says, "One of the most heartbreaking things working with this is when the accused is a minor as well. We are social workers who are supposed be on the side of the victim but when minor accused are involved, your heart might melt. So, it is very difficult for parents to accept their children doing such an offence."
1:21
Talking about an audience question about the reaction of family members of a tracked down abusers, Reddy says that the most amount of anger is directed at the non offending mother, which is heart-breaking to see that. She talks of an incident where the intimate photos of a girl in a relationship with her classmate were shared. Though she did not want police complains, such cases do come up and need "restorative justice"
1:23
Pillai says, "We talk about CSA as a vague issue. If you find a sexual content of a child on the internet you report it to us and we ban it."
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