Supporting Amendment To POCSO Bill, Derek O¡¯Brien Opens Up About Being Molested As A Child & The Trauma
Trinamool Congress MP Derek OBrien opened up about how he lived through the trauma of being molested at a young age. OBrien was sexually molested as a 13-year-old on a bus in Kolkata after tennis practice wearing short pants and a t-shirt.
Terms like sexual assault and rape are often generalised - where one assumes that a woman or a girl is the victim by default. But it is not the case always, men, especially at younger ages do get sexually assaulted and raped. But due to the massive stigma, numerous such incidents do not get reported and the victims often remain silent and deal with the mental trauma.
On Wednesday, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien opened up about how he lived through the trauma of being molested at a young age.
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"I was sexually molested as a 13-year-old on a bus in Kolkata after tennis practice wearing short pants and a t-shirt, I got on to a crowded bus, I was sexually molested. A man ejaculated on the shorts of this boy. I didn't speak about it," O'Brien said while participating in the discussion of the proposed amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO Amendment) bill.
Admitting that it took him years to talk about the incident, O'Brien, a former Quiz master on TV further said that there should be more conversation about such incidents so that others too feel comfortable to speak about.
Responding to O¡¯Brien, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani said that it was often difficult for men to come out publicly to proclaim that they too could be victims of sexual abuse. ¡°The fact that an MP today shared what he faced at age 13... 46 years later, tells us what an imprint sexual abuse leaves on a child,¡± Irani said.
She also told the house that over six lakh sexual offenders have been registered under the National Sexual Offenders Registry (NSOR).
Many members of the Rajya Sabha also backed Irani's suggestion that children should be taught about "good touch and bad touch".
Later the Rajya Sabha unanimously passed the amendment legislation which provides for the death penalty for aggravated sexual assaults on children.
The Bill will now be sent to the Lok Sabha for its approval.
Other than the death penalty for aggravated sexual assault on children, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 also provides for fines and imprisonment to curb child pornography.
Earlier, in December 2018 the then union cabinet had approved amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act amid the rising anger across the country over several cases of child rapes.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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