Mangaluru: With dissatisfaction growing among people across coastal Karnataka with regard to allegedinaction' by the concerned government authorities against Mangalore One School over the sexual abuse of a three-and-half-year old nursery student by a school driver three weeks ago, a campaign was spearheaded by few activists and members of the society –Justice for Baby Nirbhaya, Mangalore' – reaching out to people across the globe in their hope for justice for the little girl.
Taking to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, a Facebook page and Hashtag (#) were created shortly after the incident with hopes of gaining recognition beyond the coastal region. Within a few days after the Facebook page was created, an online campaign was launched and is steadily gaining momentum with pleas forJustice for Baby Nirbhaya' - resonating across the Asian continent and various parts of the globe.
On the Facebook page –Justice for Baby Nirbhaya, Mangalore' – several Indians living in the country and abroad can be seen posting their pictures online holding a banner demanding justice for the girl. The pictures are steadily increasing in number, with several citizens of foreign countries too, joining hands in the campaign with a plea for justice.
The number of followers on the Facebook page has crossed 6,000 and continuing to gain more followers, along with nearly 100 pictures of men, women or children from different backgrounds and nationalities holding banners reading “I am Baby Nirbhaya” or demanding “Justice for Baby Nirbhaya”.
Pictures have been posted with hashtags from several countries and cities across the globe such as Syria, UAE, Lebanon, Somalia, Pakistan, Egypt, Kuwait, Bangladesh, Nepal, South Africa, China, Romania, United States and others to highlight the gruesome and heinous crime committed on a little girl.
The activists behind the online campaign demand action against the school authorities who tried to defend the rapist and also leveled false allegations against the innocent child. They want to drive home the Chief Minister and governmental authorities the gravity of the sexual crime and also want to send the message loud and clear that the campaign will be kept going till justice is meted to the little girl and her family.
Speaking to Coastaldigest.com, one of the admins of the Facebook page said that the page was created by a group of Mangalureans and sparked an online campaign to create awareness among the masses about child sexual abuse, which could also happen in tier II cities and not just metropolitan cities such as Bengaluru and Delhi.
They said that till date, there has been reportedly no action taken against the school management which initially tried to deny and cover up the sexual crime. According to sections of the POCSO Act, the school management should be answerable to such crimes on children studying in their school and taken to task by the authorities concerned, he said.
They said that the idea behind the campaign was also to create awareness among families and parents about the physical and behavioural signs of sexual abuse among children, since child sexual abuse was fairly common even in India.
Along with the online campaign, the group of activists and like-minded people has recently spoken to the chief minister, home minister and primary education minister, urging them to take cognizance of the crime and take appropriate and necessary action against the school authorities.
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