Syed Azmi is a social activist who fights for people who are often shunned by society, including sexually-abused children.
In a recent post by the activist, a mother was telling him about how her five-year-old daughter was molested by a relative.
“My five-year-old daughter was molested by her 15-year-old uncle last Saturday (9 January).”
“She complained that she had pain in her private parts and upon checking, I found that there were tears and bleeding.”
When the woman asked her daughter about what happened, the child said that her uncle had violated her by putting his finger into her vagina. After consulting Syed, the woman brought her child to the hospital and lodged a police report.
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During this ordeal, the woman recounted that her daughter was brave and that relative has now been remanded. However, other family members began saying that the mother-daughter duo was accusing the perpetrator without proper proof. The woman stood her ground and said:
“What use am I as a mother if I don’t protect my child? If I withdraw the police report, incidents of this sort will happen to someone else.”
With her family members pressuring her, she is devastated and anxious now. What’s even worse is that she thought her family members will be supporting her, but they have proven otherwise.
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Be it as it may, her husband supports her decision fully and they are now living with her in-laws for emotional support. The distressed mother hopes that the perpetrator will receive fair punishment for what he did. Other than that, she hopes that this will empower other parents/ victims to speak up about sexual abuse as this is a real issue in society. More often than not, these cases go unreported for various reasons, according to FMT.
“I want people to know that there is help and that there’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
The woman also notes that she started educating her daughter ever since she was two-years-old that nobody should EVER be touching their private parts.
Instances like this prove that sex education should definitely be introduced into the formal education system. We would also like to say that sex education is never about teaching intercourse but rather, to let children recognise what kind of touches are inappropriate and wrong. This will allow them to tell their network of trusted adults that they were touched inappropriately.
We hope that the family remains strong to get through this ordeal and that the perpetrator will receive fair punishment.
