NEW DELHI, Mar 11: Following the trail of the actor member of the National Commission for Women Khushbu Sundar revealing about her sexual abuses by her father when she was a child, the Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal has also made public disclosure about her same horrific experience.
“My own father used to sexually assault me when I was a young girl. He used to beat me up a lot. I was terrified when he came home, and often hid under the bed,” Maliwal said on Saturday adding that she used to plan every night how she would help women get their due, and teach a lesson to such men who exploit children.
Detailing her ordeal further, Ms Maliwal said her father held her by her ponytails and banged her head against the wall. “I used to bleed from the head on impact. I believe when a person suffers a lot of atrocities, only then do they understand the pain of others, and it awakens a fire that can shake the entire system,” she said. Ms Maliwal said she lived with her father till she was in the fourth grade of school and it happened several times then.
Khushbu Sundar had on Monday said she was sexually abused by her father at the age of 8, which she described as the “toughest” thing. When she was 15 years old, she started revolting against her father, who then left the family in the lurch, the actor-politician said at the “We The Women” town hall organised by Mojo Story in Jaipur recently.
“The toughest thing which took me long, not to forget, not to forgive but put it behind me and move forward was the abuse I faced as a child by my father. When a child is abused, it scars the child for life,” she had said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
