The Silence We Must Break

AYUSHI DAHAL

 Protecting Sikkim’s Children Before the Law Has To.

There is a particular kind of silence that settles over a courtroom when a POCSO case is called. It is not the silence of order. It is the silence of a child who has already been asked to explain, too many times, something no child should ever have to name. I have sat with that silence. As an intern with the Sikkim State Commission for Women, I read case files of children  some barely old enough to tie their own shoelaces ,  who were lured with a toy, a chocolate, a promise of something sweet, and then violated by someone they had no reason to distrust. Later, working under the Advocate General’s office and alongside a public prosecutor at the High Court of Sikkim, I watched the same pattern repeat itself with a regularity that should alarm every household in this state on almost any given day, the High Court of Sikkim is hearing at least one case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Let that sit with you for a moment. Not once a month. Not once a season. Nearly every single day.

This is not an indictment of our institutions. The Sikkim State Commission for Women pursues its mandate with genuine diligence, following due process to ensure survivors are heard and supported. Our courts, prosecutors, and investigating agencies work to hold offenders accountable within the framework the law provides. India’s legal architecture around child protection the POCSO Act, its stringent evidentiary safeguards, its child-friendly procedures reflects a legislature that has taken this crisis seriously. But the law, however well drafted, is a response. It arrives after the harm has already been done. And what I witnessed in these case files was this: the abuse is rarely committed by a stranger lurking in the shadows. It is, devastatingly often, a biological parent, a relative, a neighbour, someone already inside the circle of a child’s trust. Children aged ten and under, who do not yet have the vocabulary to understand what is happening to them, let alone the courage to speak of it especially when threatened into silence by the very people meant to protect them.This is the void no courtroom can fill. 

A conviction cannot undo trauma. A judgment cannot restore a childhood. If we are serious about protecting Sikkim’s children, we cannot leave this work to the courts alone. We need a second line of defence one built into our homes, our schools, and our communities, long before any case ever needs to be filed.This is my appeal, as a law student who has seen these files and as a young citizen of thisstate, to every parent, teacher, panchayat member, and neighbour in Sikkim. This is a pleading made to the following institutions ,

To the Education Department: Make counsellors compulsory in every government and private school, without exception. A trained counsellor is often the first adult a child will trust with a secret they are too frightened to tell their own family. To school administrations, Introduce age appropriate lessons on “good touch and bad I’m touch” as a mandatory part of the curriculum, not an optional workshop held once a year. Children need this vocabulary before they need it in a crisis. 

To panchayats and local bodies, Create accessible, non intimidating community reporting mechanisms, so that a worried neighbour or relative has somewhere to turn before a situation escalates.

To every parent, talk to your children early and often. A child who has been told, plainly and repeatedly, that no one not a relative, not a family friend, not anyone has the right to touch them inappropriately, is a child far better equipped to resist, and to speak up And to all of us we build a culture where a child who does speak is believed immediately, protected instantly, and never made to feel that their pain is a family secret to be managed rather than a crime to be reported.

We must also reckon with what happens after the case concludes. A child who has survived sexual abuse does not simply return to being a child once the accused is sentenced. Many carry Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) a psychiatric condition marked by intrusive memories, anxiety, and a lasting sense of unsafety well into their adult lives. Access to sustained, trauma informed psychological care, not a one time counselling session, must become as much a part of our response as prosecution itself. Sikkim prides itself on its safety, its community bonds, its relatively low crime indicators compared to the rest of the country. That reputation makes this crisis easier to overlook and more urgent to confront. Every child who suffers in silence in our villages and towns is a failure not of the law, which has already done its part, but of a society that has not yet built the everyday vigilance to match it.The courts will continue to deal with the monsters among us, as they must. But it is society parents, teachers, panchayats, neighbours, all of us who must ensure there are fewer monsters left to deal with in the first place. Our children deserve nothing less than a childhood free of fear, in every home, every school, and every open space in Sikkim.