By- Rishika Gupta
In the last episode of Lock Upp, Munawar Faruqui's secret of being sexually molestation when he was just 6 or 7, incited host Kangana Ranaut to also open up about being inappropriately touched by a boy in childhood.
Munawar decides to save Saisha Shinde by revealing his secret in the show. "I was sexually molested when I was 6 to 7 years old," he says to Kangana. They were cousins. It lasted for about 4 to 5 years. It was a close family, and I didn't realize what was going on at the time.
In the fourth year when it went to the extreme, they realized they need to stop. "I have never revealed this with everyone as I have to face them," he continued. My father was having a hint about it.
He mentioned “something once that made me feel like he knew what I was talking about, but I can't recall what it was. Now I feel dad didn't say anything as he might have thought the same...like how do you share anyone about it."
Kangana told him "Every year, Munawar, a large number of children are subjected to this type of harassment, but no one speaks out about it publicly. I have gone through this. When I was a kid, there was a boy in my hometown a few years older than I used to touch me improperly. But I had no idea what that meant at the time. No matter how protective our family is, every child has to go through this."
She added "lack of sex education among kids as they are too young for it, is such a big crisis in society. And kids have to face so much due to this. They get traumatized and scarred for life. So, using this platform we are bringing awareness about child sexual abuse by sharing our real-life experiences."
Kangana continued by telling another incident of her childhood. "Humare mohalle mai ek hi choti umar ka ladka tha lekin hum sabse baada tha . He was exploring his sexuality. Hum bache bahot chote chote the. Hum logon ko bulate the. Humare kapde utarte the. Humko check karte the."
"Hum paanch cheh saal ke the uss vakt humien samjh nahi aata tha ki humare sath kya ho raha . But I feel there are a lot of kids who go through this and there's a huge stigma behind this, especially for men. And it was really brave of you, Munawar."
Munawar tells Kangana that the incident has stayed with him. "They are your family members, and they are around, and you have to face it," Kangana says.
Kangana added, "Ironically, individuals that care about you do things like this. It produces emotions that you are unable to recognize. It has an impact on our life choices. The greatest way to get it off your chest is to talk about it. And I'm glad you shared it with us on this platform."