New Delhi, May 28 -- Parents' groups in France called Tuesday for more attention to long-ignored child abuse scandals as a rare public trial opened of a school assistant accused of sexually assaulting nine young children in Paris.

Inspired by Gisele Pelicot 's decision to make her harrowing drug and rape trial public, the parents of the children agreed to open the proceedings. In France, trials involving children are usually held behind closed doors.

According to their lawyers, some parents said they were following the example of Pelicot and her motto that "shame must change sides" to abusers, not victims.

The Paris case emerged in April 2025 after several children told their parents they allegedly had been sexually abused at a nursery...