ANSWER: Awareness of child abuse and its reporting
Explanation:
Encouraged by the impact of the Delhi Police’s ‘Operation Nirbheek’ within six months since its launch, the Union Government is preparing for a nationwide launch of the programme. The overwhelmingly large number of children — mainly girls — the Delhi Police have reached out to, has left the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development wanting the ‘Operation’ be conducted in each and every school in this country. The police have been doing well to install complaints boxes in schools and promising confidentiality to the children. Ministry is working on a very effective film that will be shown to every child to educate them about ‘good touch and bad touch’. Armed with the video, the police across the country will be instructed to periodically visit all schools in their area. The initiative has also caught the attention of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP), a unit under the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency. The CEOP has been interacting with some of the top Delhi Police officers to share their expertise in order to strengthen the ‘Operation’. Conceived by Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East Delhi) Veenu Bansal, the initiative was first launched in his district in the first week of August last year. Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi came out with a standing order two months later asking other districts to follow suit. In Operation Nirbheek, the police personnel take their time to create a situation of trust, after which the children confide in them. The police deal at a personal level with the complaints received about stalking, staring and eve-teasing. However, in some cases they are compelled to register an FIR. The perpetrators most often are found to be the victims’ fathers, brothers or relatives, all who have been indulging in sexual abuse for months and even years in some cases.
