Review: 'Satyamev Jayate' Ep 2 shines light on nation's robbed childhoods

Show: Satyamev Jayate
Host: Aamir Khan
When: 11am, every Sunday
Ratings: ***1/2

After the first episode that dealt with female foeticide, Satyamev Jayate's second episode took on another taboo in society — child sexual abuse.

Aamir Khan started with asking the audience about their views on the statistics of child sexual abuse in the country and the people in the audience felt it was below 10%. He went on to show statistics by the Government of India, that said 53% children in the country had faced sexual abuse.

While most people in the audience were shocked, the cases presented were even more shocking. Anamika from Uttar Pradesh was abused as a six-year-old by her tutor, while Cinderella Prakash from Mumbai was abused by her parent's trusted friend.

In both cases, due to the trust the family had in the people involved, the girls' did not have the courage to open up to their parents. The stories told were chilling as young girls spoke about their pain and being deprived of a normal childhood due to the abuse.

The show moved on to present the cases of Harish Iyer and Ganesh, that showed sexual abuse was not just limited to girls. Harish spoke about his trauma and how Bollywood films were his stress busters. Harish mentioned Sridevi and her film roles providing him with succour. Ganesh spoke about how he forgave his abuser and found inner peace.

Anuja Gupta from a Delhi-based NGO that deals with child abuse spoke on the show about a few cases she had dealt with where family members were the abusers, the grandfather in one 2-year-old child's case.

Sadly, throughout the show there was no mention of child sexual abuse by parents, which are quite prominent. We often read about such cases in the newspapers and other mediums.

Also, mentioning only men as sexual assaulters, was another example of the lack of research (or presentation during the one-and-a-half-hour of the show).

The cases were emotionally charged and kudos to the courageous people who spoke up, but if child sexual abuse was being dealt with, then all its forms should have been presented on the screen.

The show also analysed the behaviour of the abuser and their mind-set. It also put forward the work done by Childline, the hotline that operates in 200 cities in the country helping children who are sexually abused.

Aamir, when the show commenced, had asked parents to not allow their children to watch the show if they felt the topic was too sensitive. Towards the end, he conducted a workshop specially for the children and explained in a friendly way "the parts of the body that can and cannot be touched", in addition to a good and bad touch.

The high-point of the show was when superstar Sridevi came on the sets to meet Harish, one of the boys who shared their experience, and show her support to the cause.

Like the first episode, an action was initiated through the show in the form of a letter to the government to pass a strict law against child sexual abuse.

Satyamev Jayate's second episode picked up from where the last one left off. If female foeticide was an issue that was being shoved under the carpet, then child sexual abuse was another one that is not in the open and the show used the platform to highlight it.

Satyamev Jayate seems to be moving in the right direction shedding light on issues that are kept in the dark and not addressed.