For this mandal, Ganeshotsav is a platform to spread awareness on child abuse

While most of the Ganesh mandals in the city aim more towards commercialisation, there are few mandals which still continue spreading social awareness through the fest and Sainath Ganesh Mandal in Budhwar Peth is certainly one of them.

Inspired by Aamir Khan’s TV show Satyameva Jayate, the mandal, this year, is spreading awareness on child abuse. Members of the mandal perform drama for the visitors every day during the festival.

Piyush Shah, executive president of the mandal, said, “It is a very delicate issue and many of the parents and the children do not even speak about it. But through our drama, we want to tell them that they should have more dialogue with each other and speak freely if someone is trying to take disadvantage of their innocence.”

Shah added, “We have created four different sets which rotate and the children perform the drama in 10 different scenes.”
The drama starts with news channel clips of child abuse incidents on a TV screen installed at the center of the pandal followed by an artist posing as lonely child at home. An elderly person comes to his house and abuses him sexually. The child is then shown in a spider net to show that he is trapped in sexual abuse which is followed by a musical performance portraying the pain of the boy.

At the end part, the artists inform the crowd about the behavioural patterns in the child which can alert the patients. This group performs this drama nearly ten to eleven times a day. The mandal has also organised an exhibition to create more awareness about the topic.