One in Every Two Kids Are Sexually Abused — and Abusers Are Usually Family Members

This Sunday's Satyamev Jayate was an eye-opener. The episode on child sexual abuse cited the finding that 53% of Indian children face sexual abuse — a number so large it forces every parent to sit up.

The episode's real message was simpler than statistics: listen to your children. When a child says they are uncomfortable, when they don't want to interact with certain individuals, don't dismiss it as a useless rant. The duty of the parent is to listen — however childish the concern sounds.

Because the hardest truth the episode carried was this: more often than not, the abuser is a family member. We as parents tend to trust relatives and friends more than we trust our little kids. The episode asked us to reverse that instinct — to trust our kids and their concerns first.

Kudos to Aamir Khan for addressing such a delicate issue on prime-time television.