Deeper down into the intricacies
So sorry to hear yet another incident of child abuse from this God's Own Country. Why are we not having the usual hues and cries? Yeah, there is. But some groups are strategically silent including some famous journos and people who portray themselves as activists. Maybe we cannot go to that extent as almost every second person having an account on Facebook is an activist nowadays. Anyhow, I cannot see much profile pictures painted in a particular color or picture frames pleading justice for this kid. Some are only concerned when they can give a 'savarna' explanation to a particular issue. But why would a certain group of people including the accused in this case who voiced their protest in social media after the Kathua rape and murder case now claim that this 10-year-old child was actually enjoying his sexual act? Just a minor correction. He is not an accused anymore, he is the culprit. A society does not require any more evidence to confirm this.
Is it because he is from a particular community or a particular government is ruling the state now? Maybe this question answers the coldness that we have discussed but not the entire episode. It is high time that we stop teaching girls what to wear, profess why they should not go to a different city and work late at night. Those are comments made by the aunty next door. But what about the religious leaders? Someone says menses justifies polygamy and someone else thinks girls have to be married off as a child so as to avoid eloping with a guy from another religion. So this isn't about a particular religion. It is about being patriarchal, a social system letting men enjoy all kinds of pleasures irrespective of any other consideration. Otherwise, teach your boys how to behave themselves!
Ultimately, we were all wrong in ignoring such sections of society as a small group of fanatics. They systematically practice, endorse and enforce these ideas in various ways. You have conversion/reconversion centers in most religions to brainwash girls and you also have girls who scored good marks in 12th appearing in posters as "butterflies". Recently, a friend of mine from a prestigious social change university in the country got married to a girl who just finished her Higher Secondary Education. There was no photo of hers as if he married his friends and she has no role in an important event in her life. Do you still think it is only about religion? Well, all kinds of religions contribute well enough to maintain a male-dominated society. Agreed!
Finally, is this issue grave enough to be discussed like the Kathua rape and murder case? Of course, not. In Kathua, that child had to go through such terrifying experience only because of her religious identity. State ministers came defending the accused, they even conducted a rally against the police which did an almost fair inquiry. Then the Bar association of the court where the trial has to be conducted came defending the accused and attacking the prosecutor. We got a feeling that people who should be supporting a cause of justice are actually with the culprits. But how is it different here?
Kudos to the film theatre authorities for taking that courageous stand (I prefer to ignore the other version as they deserve an applause anyways). They filed a complaint with the local police on April 25th when the incident had actually happened a week back. However, the culprit was identified, case charged and taken into custody day before yesterday when the tv channels aired the whole incident for 3 hours. The natural guardian who is the mother and the legal guardian, in this case, the police are the real culprits. They both aided the culprit initially to abuse the child and later to get away with it. Whether it is in human trafficking or immoral traffic cases in which the victims are minors, there is always a lady probably the mother or a concerned aunt helping the offender. Figures show that more than half of the child abuses happen at home or by someone whom the child is attached to.
Now, what about the Station House Officer who got the complaint and the other senior police officers who were aware of it. The officer who received the complaint is supposed to behave like a law enforcement officer and as a father. And what he and his colleagues did? Just sat over the complaint and the CCTV footage. Was he afraid to take an action against this middle-aged man who came in a Merc and owns a jewelry shop in middle-east? When you have money, you also have high profile connections be it with political parties or religious groups. Can we then accuse the police of their inaction? Yes, but not really. Barring the extremely corrupt officers, there are lessons that each policeman learn in their career when they act on behalf of justice. And believe, that is not always sweet. Not a justification but we cannot really imagine the mental pressure that they go through in cases like these. So for them, the easy option is to reach a compromise. Then who else has to be accused of creating a situation like this?
Politicians or basically our executive is responsible in three ways. When they remain silent when religious leaders make sexist remarks like what we discussed earlier, when they go to police station and help culprits get away with certain crimes because there is a mutual give and take happening and when they destroy the morale of officers and institutions which are supposed to act in circumstances like these. This leads us to the urgent need of cleansing our divisive politics, look into the funding sources of political parties and probably help them function with clean money.
The three arms of government in India instead of helping each other is more focused on retaining their authority. The higher government bodies have found enough ways to neutralize or make ineffective the decentralization that has happened after the 73rd and 74th amendment acts. Similarly, the State and Central governments, as well as the higher judiciaries, are at times, if not always, takes decisions which destroy the very purpose of existence of Human Rights Commissions and the Commission for Protection of Child Rights. These bodies are publicly criticised or reprimanded by the Government/ Judiciary in many cases for decisions taken in their strong belief. There is a harmful message such actions would convey to the common public. That is where we also need to understand that stronger legislations like POCSO won't be effective without a stronger system to implement it.
Same is the case with agencies like Child Welfare Committees and District Child Protection Offices. They are understaffed and burdened with heavy paperwork. The government keeps the NGOs working for children always on the radar for many reasons. But the government constitutes the CWCs with people having vested interests, politicians, people with criminal background and some committees are not even constituted. By vested interests, what I mean is people who are religious representatives or people who themselves own organizations working for children. I had a classmate who is a lady advocate and a CWC member at that time in a district in Kerala who failed in all 4 papers in her first attempt while we did a specialization in Child Rights Law together in National Law School. What more can we expect from these committees then?
Finally, there are contract staffs hired by the social welfare department working as Child Psychologists in most government schools. They have been instrumental in many cases in bringing the truth out to the common public. Not to say that the system of hiring contract staffs is a foolproof one either. While interning in a famous Government Girls Model School in North Kerala, I got a chance to take an interview with one such staff. She had Masters in Psychology and Social Work. However, her salary was pending for few months and she was being used by the teachers to check their blood pressure and at times to pass news between different departments. In this particular case, the Childline workers forwarded the complaint to the Police, took the details of vehicle online and tried to follow it up for the last two weeks. But see, nobody takes them seriously. They were supposed to get the crime no within 24 hours but the case was registered only yesterday. As per the records of Childline, there were 105 complaints related to child-related issues in Malappuram district alone during the month of April this year. Out of that 25 were serious child sexual abuse cases!
On a serious note, there are many positives coming out of this case. The stand which was taken by the theatre authorities, a couple of young child rights professionals, media and finally the government which has already passed a strong message to the violators. The police officer is also charged with Section 19 of the POCSO Act. There are still people with a sense of justice in all departments.
So relax! We are still doing much better than many other states. We are doing better than what happened in the last government. Take rest and remain silent until they come to grab your own child.
In case you have no clue about this incident, please refer the link: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/ten-yr-old-abused-kerala-cinema-theatre-cops-consider-action-against-child-s-mother-81232
Is it because he is from a particular community or a particular government is ruling the state now? Maybe this question answers the coldness that we have discussed but not the entire episode. It is high time that we stop teaching girls what to wear, profess why they should not go to a different city and work late at night. Those are comments made by the aunty next door. But what about the religious leaders? Someone says menses justifies polygamy and someone else thinks girls have to be married off as a child so as to avoid eloping with a guy from another religion. So this isn't about a particular religion. It is about being patriarchal, a social system letting men enjoy all kinds of pleasures irrespective of any other consideration. Otherwise, teach your boys how to behave themselves!
Ultimately, we were all wrong in ignoring such sections of society as a small group of fanatics. They systematically practice, endorse and enforce these ideas in various ways. You have conversion/reconversion centers in most religions to brainwash girls and you also have girls who scored good marks in 12th appearing in posters as "butterflies". Recently, a friend of mine from a prestigious social change university in the country got married to a girl who just finished her Higher Secondary Education. There was no photo of hers as if he married his friends and she has no role in an important event in her life. Do you still think it is only about religion? Well, all kinds of religions contribute well enough to maintain a male-dominated society. Agreed!
Finally, is this issue grave enough to be discussed like the Kathua rape and murder case? Of course, not. In Kathua, that child had to go through such terrifying experience only because of her religious identity. State ministers came defending the accused, they even conducted a rally against the police which did an almost fair inquiry. Then the Bar association of the court where the trial has to be conducted came defending the accused and attacking the prosecutor. We got a feeling that people who should be supporting a cause of justice are actually with the culprits. But how is it different here?
Kudos to the film theatre authorities for taking that courageous stand (I prefer to ignore the other version as they deserve an applause anyways). They filed a complaint with the local police on April 25th when the incident had actually happened a week back. However, the culprit was identified, case charged and taken into custody day before yesterday when the tv channels aired the whole incident for 3 hours. The natural guardian who is the mother and the legal guardian, in this case, the police are the real culprits. They both aided the culprit initially to abuse the child and later to get away with it. Whether it is in human trafficking or immoral traffic cases in which the victims are minors, there is always a lady probably the mother or a concerned aunt helping the offender. Figures show that more than half of the child abuses happen at home or by someone whom the child is attached to.
Now, what about the Station House Officer who got the complaint and the other senior police officers who were aware of it. The officer who received the complaint is supposed to behave like a law enforcement officer and as a father. And what he and his colleagues did? Just sat over the complaint and the CCTV footage. Was he afraid to take an action against this middle-aged man who came in a Merc and owns a jewelry shop in middle-east? When you have money, you also have high profile connections be it with political parties or religious groups. Can we then accuse the police of their inaction? Yes, but not really. Barring the extremely corrupt officers, there are lessons that each policeman learn in their career when they act on behalf of justice. And believe, that is not always sweet. Not a justification but we cannot really imagine the mental pressure that they go through in cases like these. So for them, the easy option is to reach a compromise. Then who else has to be accused of creating a situation like this?
Politicians or basically our executive is responsible in three ways. When they remain silent when religious leaders make sexist remarks like what we discussed earlier, when they go to police station and help culprits get away with certain crimes because there is a mutual give and take happening and when they destroy the morale of officers and institutions which are supposed to act in circumstances like these. This leads us to the urgent need of cleansing our divisive politics, look into the funding sources of political parties and probably help them function with clean money.
The three arms of government in India instead of helping each other is more focused on retaining their authority. The higher government bodies have found enough ways to neutralize or make ineffective the decentralization that has happened after the 73rd and 74th amendment acts. Similarly, the State and Central governments, as well as the higher judiciaries, are at times, if not always, takes decisions which destroy the very purpose of existence of Human Rights Commissions and the Commission for Protection of Child Rights. These bodies are publicly criticised or reprimanded by the Government/ Judiciary in many cases for decisions taken in their strong belief. There is a harmful message such actions would convey to the common public. That is where we also need to understand that stronger legislations like POCSO won't be effective without a stronger system to implement it.
Same is the case with agencies like Child Welfare Committees and District Child Protection Offices. They are understaffed and burdened with heavy paperwork. The government keeps the NGOs working for children always on the radar for many reasons. But the government constitutes the CWCs with people having vested interests, politicians, people with criminal background and some committees are not even constituted. By vested interests, what I mean is people who are religious representatives or people who themselves own organizations working for children. I had a classmate who is a lady advocate and a CWC member at that time in a district in Kerala who failed in all 4 papers in her first attempt while we did a specialization in Child Rights Law together in National Law School. What more can we expect from these committees then?
Finally, there are contract staffs hired by the social welfare department working as Child Psychologists in most government schools. They have been instrumental in many cases in bringing the truth out to the common public. Not to say that the system of hiring contract staffs is a foolproof one either. While interning in a famous Government Girls Model School in North Kerala, I got a chance to take an interview with one such staff. She had Masters in Psychology and Social Work. However, her salary was pending for few months and she was being used by the teachers to check their blood pressure and at times to pass news between different departments. In this particular case, the Childline workers forwarded the complaint to the Police, took the details of vehicle online and tried to follow it up for the last two weeks. But see, nobody takes them seriously. They were supposed to get the crime no within 24 hours but the case was registered only yesterday. As per the records of Childline, there were 105 complaints related to child-related issues in Malappuram district alone during the month of April this year. Out of that 25 were serious child sexual abuse cases!
On a serious note, there are many positives coming out of this case. The stand which was taken by the theatre authorities, a couple of young child rights professionals, media and finally the government which has already passed a strong message to the violators. The police officer is also charged with Section 19 of the POCSO Act. There are still people with a sense of justice in all departments.
So relax! We are still doing much better than many other states. We are doing better than what happened in the last government. Take rest and remain silent until they come to grab your own child.
In case you have no clue about this incident, please refer the link: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/ten-yr-old-abused-kerala-cinema-theatre-cops-consider-action-against-child-s-mother-81232
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