Pinky Akter : Taimur, an auto rickshaw driver with two daughters and a son, living in Aria No. 28, Sabuj Bagh, Dhaka, was having a good life. In 2011 an extreme incident took place in this family which took away the joy of the entire family. A 5-year-old child of this family, Maliha (pseudonym), was raped by a sexually perverted person named Najmus Saqib. A case was filed after the protest, but no trial. After this incident, little Maliha is now speech impaired.

Even after eleven years of this unfortunate incident, the child could not bear the trauma of this incident. she lost the power to speak due to trauma. The child’s father tearfully told this reporter, “They didn’t get justice and no one even wanted to know about their tortured child. My happy daughter was raped by that demon. After the incident, the child was taken to a government hospital for treatment, but there was no psychological counseling.
13-year-old Nadi+

(pseudonym) who grew up in Action for Social Development in Rajadhani, behaves abnormally in her sleep almost every day. She was sexually abused as a child and has been suffering from mental anguish ever since. UKM Farhana Akhter, who worked on a project with Action for Social Development Children, said, “There is also an emphasis on children’s mental health, but there are many children who carry such scars throughout their lives and thus their mental development is affected. This affects their childhood. This is how a promising child’s bright future ends.

Recently, the National Girl Child Advocacy Forum released a monitoring report on child abuse which stated that there were 439 cases of child rape in the eight months from January to September. The agency also said that 2 people have been victims of acid attacks in these 8 months. 104 children were abducted and trafficked. 260 of them were given child marriage. Apart from this, the number of girls who were married as children but their parents did not give confession is 1 thousand 525.

More alarming data emerged in this report. Where mentioned, 36 women and children have been subjected to physical and sexual abuse in the last 8 months in educational institutions. 136 girl children have been killed in the last 8 months. One of the reasons for this was family conflict. 11 girl children have been abandoned at different places in last 8 months. Apart from this, 307 girl children have died due to drowning in water so far this year. 47 children died mysteriously.

Bangladesh Child Rights Forum says that these raped children do not get any mental treatment. And the government does not seem to take any measures for the psychological support of these abused children.

Expressing concern about the mental health of children after torture, Bangladesh Child Rights Forum Director Abdus Sahid said that the cases of child rape are continuously increasing. And in these cases the victims do not get exemplary justice, the law is slow and weak, with which the young children have to fight. Most of the children do not have mental balance after such abuse and are thus excluded from society and the state, a potential life for future generations.

Abdus Sahid also said that to stop sexual abuse of children, the cases of child abuse should be brought under justice quickly. Apart from this, it is important to ensure emotional support of the child as soon as possible.

Class IV student Amina (pseudonym) is carrying the life of another child in her own child’s body. Basically the rapist forcefully raped her by mentally scaring her which she did not tell her family out of fear. However, the matter came to the fore when his physical changes seemed suspicious to the family members.

And the emotional damage will never heal, the family says. The child is now unable to speak properly, trembling with fear. Does not want to mix with anyone. His family said that he stopped going to school after the incident.
According to various studies, incidents of child sexual abuse leave a child with a psychological trauma that cannot be easily overcome.

Child Protection Specialist of UNICEF Bangladesh, Irene Tumwebaze said that in joint efforts with the government, some projects have been planned for the psychological support of children, in which training of child psychological councils is being given in schools-colleges and some organizations.

Associate Professor of Anthropology Department of Dhaka University. Rasheda Rawonak Khan said, now it can be seen that children are abused more by close people. A child’s childhood is wasted on everything. Mentioning that such incidents of child abuse are putting a generation at risk, she said, such incidents destroy children’s mental health like cancer. He also said that the concerned parties should give importance to the child’s mental health.

Dhaka University’s Faculty of Social Sciences Dean Sadeka Halim said, along with the proper implementation of the law, children should be made mentally strong so that they can overcome this problem.