10-year-old opens up about sexual abuse in 'good touch, bad touch' class in Telangana

HYDERABAD: When a group of SHE Teams personnel visited a school in Adilabad to educate children about 'good touch and bad touch,' a 10-year-old girl who had been sexually abused by a 23-year-old man opened up about her trauma.After the Class 5 student confided in the team, the police apprehended Jadhav Krishna on June 23 (Monday).A case has been filed against the youth at the Adilabad 1-Town police station under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

On Monday, the SHE Teams personnel visited several schools in Adilabad. In one particular school, while they were explaining the difference between 'good touch' and 'bad touch' and advising the children to be careful and not allow strangers to touch them, one of the students looked dejected.

"We took her into another room and spoke to her privately, giving her the confidence to share with us if she was experiencing any problems.

It was then she revealed that she was regularly being molested by a man," said B Susheela, in charge, SHE Teams.According to the officers, Jadhav would ask the girl to meet him in a narrow lane near her school. He would then give her Rs 10, buy her some biscuits and chocolates, and molest her.

"The girl realised that something bad was happening to her only when the 'good touch, bad touch' explanation was given," said Susheela.As Jadhav Krishna makes agricultural implements, the police approached him as potential customers, asking him to make hand sickles."We were careful not to arouse his suspicions that the police were after him. We went to his house as civilians and got his phone number from his parents," a SHE Teams officer told TOI on Wednesday.The officers called him under the pretext of ordering 'Kodavallu' (hand sickles) for agricultural use. He provided them with his location, enabling the team to apprehend him before he could escape.