2/3/11

Can not ensure protection and safe environment for our children - what nation are we?

The AIMS resident doctor who molested the 8 year old brain tumor patient the other day, should be permanently chained and put inside a cage in a secluded place for his most heinous crime and lynched publicly everyday till the time he lives. He should be made to eat food that is not fit for human consumption anymore and all his citizen's rights should be taken away from him. Unfortunately the IPC does not have such a provision. My elder daughter Anoushka, just 9, was stunned and shattered when she learnt about the crime while reading newspaper, a habit she has started enjoying. But I doubt if I will have the heart to encourage her to do so actively, given her tender age.

My daughter has been asking me all sorts of questions; thinking about her unfortunate brother whom she has not seen; who underwent a brain surgery for tumor removal just a couple of days before this most shocking incidence; whose parents and others though this doctor to be a noble person. But he has put the noble profession and the entire humanity to shame by his heinous act. His act is unpardonable as he has betrayed the faith of the child, his parents and his colleagues; has snatched away the innocence not only from the helpless little boy but all children of his age. Should we just continue to think that we should do something about it or rather we should all take a pledge to do our bits, be it educating our children or acting in a responsible manner when dealing with such incidences like sexual abuse, by showing support and understanding to the sufferers.

This doctor has brought shame to this noble profession and the entire humanity. He has violated the rights of all children to have a safe environment. I am not sure if I did the right thing in inculcating this regular newspaper reading habit in my daughter. In any case every child of her age has a lot of awareness today. My daughter asks me or her mother, what is molestation/ sexual assault/rape. In our attempt to answer her questions and explain to them the gravity of such crimes, I and my wife struggle help her understand the seriousness of the matter in a manner appropriate for her age. This is a subject that we can not avoid, we should not avoid. While being mindful of her innocence filled heart and eyes, we need to be able to communicate to effectively to each child about sex crimes, absolutely in a no nonsense way, for her safety and protection. We should all learn together effective ways of protecting our children and preparing our them to protect themselves. We should pay utmost attention to this communication instead of curbing the freedom of our children to play, laugh and to have fun.

While we should welcome the announcement of this doctors immediate (almost) dismissal and recomendation for cancelation of his registration. The minister acted smartly and quickly. But this is not enough. Given the widespread repeatations of sex/sexual crime against all age groups and gender, law should aim for a set of revised provisions for speedy, scientific and simplified procedures for trial and much harsher punishments than what exists today, akin to what I cited as my outburst in my opening lines. Within the amended provisions, sex crimes against infants and children should attract harshest of all punishments. Definitions of sex crime should be made clear and comprehensive to avoid any ambiguity and differences in interpretation. Although something like capital punishment may be counter productive and these sex criminals would then go to the extent of killing their targets. At the same time, the principle of giving chance to every criminal for reform, should be discarded for this category of crime. In my consideration, sex crime against children, and for that matter against all age groups - of which the children, girl child and women are most vulnerable groups- should be treated as the most heinous crime.

I feel all of us irrespective of our nationality, religion, castes, languages should stand in solidarity to prevent such crimes from happening and protest strongly whenever these happen. There should be zero tolerance against such crimes as they leave a deep and permanent wound in the person who has suffered this. The scar left never heals fully, and has serious implications on the sufferers' mental and physical health, their persona, their attitude to life and so on and so forth.

It is rather shocking to know that some ethno-religious groups/ tribes in some of our neighboring countries treat the sufferers of sex crimes in most inhuman fashion while letting the criminals go scot free. In a similar vein there are people all around us in our country, including some from the judiciary, who believe that a sex criminal should be freed if he offers to marry his target. I would also admonish those of us who feel the act and conducts of the sufferers are responsible for inviting sex crime. They blame the sufferer for the crime rather than condemning the criminals. All research on sex crime prove otherwise. The motive of sex crime is not sex, but to brutalise the target to satisfy some kind of complex sadist tendency or it could sometimes be linked to revenge against the family or close relatives or sometimes against a larger groups of those considered enemy (as in case of sex crimes by soldiers). Otherwise what could be the explaination for sexual assault against innocent children. So the point here for everybody is, do not blame the sufferer, reach out to her/him with full support and understanding.

I feel, total awareness and knowledge building on the issue of sex crime should be given top most priority in our country, as an effective step towards protection of children, women and other vulnerable groups. Multiple pronged communication strategy targeting different age groups and layers of the society is needed. There is a need for knowledge and capacity building of judiciary, police, schools, hospitals, all kinds of institutions and establishments to implement zero tolerance against all forms of sex crimes ranging from sexual abuse, molestation, sexual assaults. Schools should teach children about sex crimes and prepare our young citizens' for their responsibility to fight this out together. Our laws should definitely be made more firm with harsher and sure punishments, but I am not over emphasising it knowing that it takes its own course. There are however, innumerable ways we, the civil society can act towards our collective responsibility and duty to fight out the menace of sex crimes against children and all vulnerable groups. Let's not forget tat we are not a rogue nation, but a nation of oldest civilisation and culture.