Dr (Mrs) Vishiesh Verma
Children and childhood are best gifts that nature could bestow upon us. Childhood denotes beginning of the civilization and creativity. This is an irony that the increasing scientific industrial and competitive world has made the lives of modern day children more and more difficult. In a world created by adults and for the adults there seems to be a little space for children. The vulnerability of children from infancy through their childhood years of dependency on adults for safety and ongoing nurturing puts them at the risk of maltreatment in many forms. A World Health organization report in 1999 estimated that over 40 million children around the World suffer from abuse and maltreatment. It defined child abuse as to all forms of physical emotional treatment, sexual abuse, negligent treatment resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s right to health, survival and dignity. Recognizing these fundamental violations of children’s human rights, Article 19 and Article 34 of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child (which India has ratified) deal with child abuse.
Child abuse is manifested in the following forms: Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse. Sexual abuse is a universal and alarming problem and increased attention and efficient protection skills and prevention measures are necessary at every level- family, school, and community, national and international. At least one third of Indian population is below eighteen years is abused. Future of India seems to be bleak. A recent study by a Child’s Rights Organization has found that one fifth of Indian children are facing abuse of one kind or another. It is necessary for the government and non-governmental organizations to play an active role in its prevention.
In 2000, the women’s world summit Foundation launched the World Day for prevention of Child Abuse to be commemorated on Nov, 19 every year. This is a day marked to create awareness and build a culture of preventing child abuse- emotional, physical and sexual and violence against children.
The existing statistics is quite frightening. In 2007 the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development released the thoughtful and terrifying – study on “Child abuse in India” More than 12,000 children were polled to arrive at an empirical picture of the scale of the beatings and sexual crimes that Indian children endure.
According to CBI figures there are currently three million trafficked persons in India- 1.2 million of them are children. At any given time, says the National Human Rights Commission 20,000 girls are transported from one part of the country to another. Many of the girls who go missing, land up in states like Haryana affected by skewed sex ratio and are sometimes made to marry three or five brothers to avoid a division of property.
According to collected information by Buchpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) through Right to Information applications, Crime Record Bureau Data, National Human Rights Commission and Zonal Integrated Police Network Website – 11 children go missing in an hour, 263 children reported missing in a day and 96,000 children go missing every year. The poverty belt of the country has contributed significantly to the large number of orphan and missing children. There are 20 million orphans, six crore children below 6 years below the poverty line, 10630 children were kidnapped in 2012. The crimes like child prostitution, illegal human organ trade, selling children to childless couples, bringing up children to make them beggars, servants etc. creep up, in the background of missing children. The Tragedy of missing children is that they come from the communities who have no means to put pressure on Police and galvanize the media to quicken the search for their children.
The Children caught in this terrifying circle, are battered into submission, their innocence is destroyed and their lives become utterly joyless. What follows is still worst. A violent childhood may lead to violent adulthood. A child, who faces the wrath of an adult, grows up believing that violence is the answer to all problems, they become complex individuals for rest of their life.
In 2011, the inside stories of two shelter homes for minor girls in Haryana 1. Suparna ka Angan in Gurgaon and 2. Apna Ghar in Rohtak run by NGOs shook India.
The lid first came off the horrendous goings on at Suparna ka Angan when some of its inmates studying in Govt. Girls School behaved abnormally in the school. The school teachers also noticed some strange marks on their cheeks also. The teachers explored the students and they disclosed that they were being sexually exploited by some of the insiders and some of the outsiders in the Suparna Ka Angan. The matter was reported to police and then to National Commission for Protection of Child’s Right (NCPCR). It was an unauthorised home and it was closed. The girls were handed over to their guardians and who had no place to go were shifted to alternative shelter home ‘Apna Ghar’ which was Govt aided and bigger with 103 inmates. Its manager Jaswanti Devi was well connected woman who had even received the state award for service to society. The girls who were shifted from the home, ‘Suparna ka Angan’ faced the same kind of sexual exploitation over here and they ran away. Jaswanti Devi had appointed her daughter and son-in-law for sharing the administration work. Some police officers were also involved. The total functioning of shelter home for minor girls was malicious.
Now both the shelter homes are locked and inquiry is going on.Educational institutions also resort to meanest forms of punishment on children that are psychologically demeaning. It includes canning, slapping, kicking etc. The cruelty upon children is conspicuous from the following two examples:
Sept 2012, in district Medak of Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) Police booked the authorities of Madrasa for allegedly beating up a twelve years old boy Mohammed who was chained and tortured by his teacher because he was not interested in studying ‘Arabic’ in the Minhajul Vloom Madrasa. The police said the boy had boils on his feet and he was shackled.
April,2009 a Eleven years old girl Shanno was tortured and killed in a brutal way by a primary school teacher of Municipal Corporation of Delhi, because she was not able to recite English alphabets. Shanno was made to stand in the sun for two hours with bricks on her back on hot summer day.
We may now look forward for better conditions for our children’s’ physical, mental and social growth. The Lok Sabha has passed a Bill for protection of children from sexual offence in 2011. The bill will protect children below 18 years from sexual abuse and will seek to setup special courts for speedy trial of cases against them.
The writer is a former reader Coordinator of University of Jammu.
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