Making childhood safe for children is becoming an overwhelming task

Bangalore again. The garden city first turned to 

garbage city and now becoming infamous for 

rape city.

Image courtesy: www.exclusivenews.co.in

A three-year-old girl child in Bangalore was allegedly sexually abused at the private school she attends. "We have registered a criminal case late Tuesday (Oct.21, 2014) on a complaint by the victim's father that his young daughter was sexually abused in the Orchid International School premises," said Police Inspector TC Venkatesh. "We are checking the footage of the closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed in the school and questioning its staff and faculty," he added.

According to the police complaint filed by her father, the child "had signs of fever and complained to her mother that she was physically abused by someone she did not know or recognize."

The public anger of the Bangalore VIBGYOR High (School) rape incident reported about a couple of months ago is still lingering, while more grisly spectacles make a beeline to grab the pungent headlines. It is bad enough that the alleged rape occurred in the  campus sanctity, the accused, yet again, a staff.  Are more students being raped?  Are more rapes reported?  Has the definition of rape become diluted that more incidents being red-flagged? Is rape avoidance a feminine responsibility?  Or, are we failing collectively?

How is it that a three-year old tot was left alone for this to happen at any given point of time while at school?  Even when the child has to use the rest room she must be accompanied by a helper staff.  Someone knows the answer there.  Fortunately, the abuser cannot invoke the familiar defence that it had been consensual sex. 

While the recent beastly Delhi gang-rape is not yet fixed, more such heinous crimes are unfolding all over the country.  While the current laws and the concomitant loopholes enable abusers to escape punishment, many rape cases fail to result in rape law enforcement, thanks to the systemic inadequacies that render the criminal law ineffective in responding to and preventing such violence.  To get a conviction, current law requires prosecutors prove a suspect acted with “depraved indifference”, which is a high bar to clear, especially since most child abuse takes place in private.

A less-scrutinised explanation may be  the campus  grievance process itself  oriented towards the protection of perpetrators than the vindication of survivors. While the child abuse is more than a passing issue to be bantered about by talk show hosts, the community leaders must come up with preventive strategies.   It is not enough to warn a child to keep off strangers.  By now, we might have told our children about “good and bad touches”, but don’t miss to caution that it is often from someone we know and trust.  Keep an eye on a lesser known but growing category of molesters – children who perpetrate sexual crimes  upon children younger than themselves, as  nearly half of all sex offenders are juveniles. 

The common trouble spots include lack of a sexual assault response policy and underreporting of campus crime statistics.   Studies also indicate that victims who have not come to terms with the abuse they suffered as children, will, in time, repeat the same destructive patterns.  The educational institutions should adopt some promising practices to prevent and manage sexual assault.  The campus  programme should include comprehensive education about rape myths, common circumstances under which the crime occurs, prevention strategies, rape trauma responses….. along with a sexual assault policy clarifying all forms of sexual misconduct, and provide  reporting options. As campus grievance procedures are civil in nature, the sexual offenders are found “responsible”, not “guilty”.

The strongest punishment schools can deliver is to expel a rapist from campus which can be valid for cheating on a Physics final, not for a felony on par with murder.  Campus judicial systems aren’t designed to address that sort of defence.  A system run by corporates will always try to  put the school’s interests above that of the victims. Probing sexual assault complaints and meting out punishment should be a police matter, handled by personnel trained to deal with such highly complex cases, as these are tough crimes to investigate, as rape is more than a violation of campus discipline.

Students should be surveyed annually about sexual violence on campuses and the results made public and present a more accurate picture of campus life, while they  also must take responsibility for protecting themselves and be mindful that alcohol and drug use can lower their defence which can target them easy prey.

Beware of illusions

We owe it to our children to remember that the next generation of molesters is emerging from this generation.   Become aware of our own bias – our illusions that cloud our judgement by making us believe that we live in a much kindlier and gentler world than is really the case.  “Rape culture” is deemed as the set of widely held social and cultural beliefs that tend to make sexual abuse invisible and inevitable.  

Image courtesy: The Hindu

Few campus rapes are reported, fewer prosectuted. National Crimes Bureau Annual Report confirms that “rapes are committed in all states as well as the rapists belong to all castes, communities, colours and regions of India and abroad”, adding that “a woman is raped somewhere in India every 20 minutes , and the number of children raped has increased by 336 per cent  in the last 10 years”.

It is disturbing that our children are so trivialised  as to become the objects of exploitation and their innocence is sought to be destroyed for perverted greed.  When sexual violence occurs on campus and authorities fail to adequately respond, there is a fundamental breakdown in educational mission.  Men who treat women with respect can play a big role in preventing the crime.   Human Rights activists who fight capital punishment should propose meaningful inputs.  The children need to be protected, not labeled as tramps.

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TMC MP Tapas Pal’s politics of obscenity - Acche dhin aa gaye?

Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal was, on 30/06/2014, caught on camera purportedly making a sub-human statement, “I will ask our boys to go and rape women …. If necessary”, setting abysmal standard of human behaviour.  Pal had commented him saying, “If any CPM man is present here, listen to me.  If you ever touch any Trinamool Congress worker …. I will let loose my boys in your homes and they will commit rape….”, the MP had warned,  confirming the ingredients of all that is contrary to the dignity of the House, characterized by vulgar display of intolerance and indiscipline. Tapas Pal joined the chaotic bandwagon of making absurd remarks.

Retired IPS Officer Kiren Bedi tweeted: “Wither we as a society? An MP of the ruling party openly threatens rape and violence!  Woman party chief also a CM silent! Police looks on!” The controversial comment triggered an uproar.  The political furore is growing high demanding that the Speaker should take action and the MP should be sacked and arrested.  These remarks are absolutely disgraceful and speaks volumes of utterly shallow mindset. Another day, another example of how Indian politics deals unabashedly in the currency of misogyny.  The crime and conversation around sexual violence against women has been amplified across various channels.  The dignity of a woman has become cheaper than a candy, isn’t it?

Shame on the family

“On behalf of him, I am saying sorry”, said Nandini, wife of the TMC MP, attempting some damage control, thanks to our colonial masters for bequeathing the five-letter wonder “SORRY”.  Pal’s apology is only from the lips, not from the heart.  It is not his wife that should apologise for him, he should confront his deeds by himself.  Being a woman herself, she should demand her husband to exit public life.   Any mother will be ashamed of such remarks, presumably Pal’s mother as well.

What would have been the reaction of Nandini, her husband MP and  Bengal Chief Minister & TMC leader Mamta Banerjee, had the same utterance been from any other party politician?  How does Pal feel that he is putting his wife before the public into the shameful situation?  Isn’t it like sending mummy to explain away your lapse?  Had Mamta asked Pal resign his MP seat, it would have enhanced the prestige of the TMC leader and would have set better standards.  Isn’t Pal a political anomaly? Alas, a party whose MP does not respect women is led by a woman! It tantamounts to all women are invisible victims. Nevertheless, it is utopian, higher the position, harsher the punishment.  The TMC supreme should have slapped a suspension, pending enquiry.   Why no one remembers about the Code of Conduct of MPs?

Need for tough presiding officers

What can one expect when over 30 per cent of legislators have felony, convictions, or charges pending? No wonder, rapists and criminals roam free.  Why he is not arrested for instigating heinously criminal threats, nor Parliament impeaching him?  The parliament should move a privilege motion against him. A Public Interest Litigation has been filed, as his remarks are more criminal than political.  MPs are expected to set high standards of probity and rectitude.  His remarks only buttresses the point that today the need for emotional quotients to be taught whilst as a young child, while one cannot forget that West Bengal is renowned as the land of scholars like Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray …..

There should be clear and definite mechanisms to deal with the disruptions and the scope of the Speaker should be extended empowering him to the extent which is absolutely necessary.  There is a dire need to make MPs accountable for their actions committed that disgusted the parliamentary standards.  Like animals who trust the butcher, we continue to trust our politicians.  Our respectable parliament has become a fool’s paradise where they can do anything backed by constitutional cover.  We are all busy in criticizing the system and feel that our work is done, without providing a solution. Freedom of speech does not bestow on him to lash his tongue.

It is overdue the presiding officers redeemed the pledge they have repeatedly made at countless conferences to observe a “code of conduct” for legislators and create strong disincentive against disruption.  Yet again, it is a clear warning to our politicians who have made a mockery of power vested in them by the electorate.  The privileges extended to the MPs are being misused as it evades the ambit of judicial intervention. Bring back T.N. Seshan and make him the Speaker.  We need people of steel to enforce decorum.  The parliament resembles a patient in coma, its faculties frozen, its strength ebbing, with no  consciousness at all.  It is estimated that disruptions and adjournments has cost the taxpayers more than Rs.250 m. To rewind public memory, in December 2012, President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee (Cong.) brought huge disrepute to his family name when he termed the anti-rape protesters in Delhi as “dented-painted” women.  His sister had to apologise for his abnormal utterance.

One often felt the politicians are insensitive but never realised that a few of them could be downright stupid too.  Pal has revealed himself and no amount of apology, withdrawal, denial or explanation will take away the fact that he is hopelessly undemocratic and seriously deficient in either intelligence or tact.  Indian women are having high image in the world.  In general, Indian women are conscious of dress code as parents from childhood take care of this.  Think before you wink.  The women’s issue has been for a long time neglected by every political party.  Sonia Gandhi did not unseat Abhijit Mukherjee.  Today Mamta has done the same thing, explicating that women’s dignity is secondary.  A missed  opportunity to be a role-model.

Can't the judiciary be proactive?

Your Honour, if Bengal government doesn’t act, can’t Courts consider suo-motu cognisance?  When most pillars of democracy are guilty of lack of action, isn’t judiciary the last hope? Venomous leaders, small and big, talk about killing, raping and revenge - a political culture permeated in our system.  The 16^th Lok Sabha reportedly had the highest number of MPs with criminal cases against them.  According to Association for Democratic Reforms, 34 per cent of the new MPs face criminal charges, who will be our law-makers. Can a logical bad input produce a good output?  In many countries, with strict enforcement of law, these politicians wouldn’t have even contested the polls.

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Email: krs1957@hotmail.com

Dad is Bad?!

 Dad is Bad ?!

“The greatest gift I have ever had came from God, and I call him Dad”  -Anonymous

              

                                                 

These are troubled times! Turbulent too!!

Hardly a week ago, it was reported that "a furious Texas father pulled a man who was molesting his four-year old daughter off the child and beat him to death!"

More recently:  "Seven-year old raped, murdered" (“The Hindu”, June 18)

And now:

Another father, still worse, allegedly raped his own four-year old daughter in Bangalore.

The report (detailed write up already published in all leading Indian dailes) :

Suja Jones, a travel agent in Kolkatta meets Pascal Mazurier, a French Consulate employee.  The two marry in France (2001).  They have three children. The first one is son (2005), second,  a baby girl and the unfortunate victim of this story(2008), and the third a boy baby (2010). 

While pregnant with her third child, Suja says she learnt from her daughter that Pascal  (more appropriate if you misspelt  his name)  was hurting her on her private parts. The girl starts complaining of pain and her father is sexually abusing her.  The upset mother referred her daughter to a doctor, and the latter’s report confirmed the abuse.

Suja immediately lodged a complaint against her husband, accusing him of raping her daughter. Pascal has been arrested since.  The wife, obviously, wants no mercy to be shown.

Well, now, to comprehend the two issues:

·         The trauma of the little girl

·         What punishment to be meted out to the father

The worst agony: If a third person (next to father and mother) inflicts the abuse, the child can cry and complain to the dearest father and/or mother.  Especially the father, the man every girl is supposed to be able to trust.  Alas, if the father himself is the perpetrator, nay predator …… who can console the little one? 

“I love my papa; he hurts me”, cries the traumatized child, who is clearly confused.  Physically and emotionally hurt, she is too small to understand the impacts and intricacies. In case of murder, there is only a one-time death.  Whereas, here, the child will die everyday!  Once the girl deeply realizes the crime done by her father, she will begin to cry and continue to cry till she is tired of crying. Everyday!  Nightmarish!  After all, it is not easy to be only four years old and have this happened to you!  The long term emotional and psychological damage of sexual abuse and the repressed memories thereof can be devastating to the child.

If the child is of the age of 4 or 5 years (as in this case) and tries to break away from the abuser (father, in this case) , the latter may threaten the child with violence or loss of love.  If the abuse occurs within the family, the child may fear the anger or shame of other family members, or get afraid that the family will break up if the secret is told.

What a tragic shame!     He looted the innocence!!      He robbed her of being a child!!  How is a child to act when she is violated?  For most part they don’t understand what has happened to them or why.  Perverts of this nature don’t or can’t interact with normal adults so they prey on children.

A cross section of the people, on condition of anonymity,  ventilated their feelings:

“Any crime starts with “child” has to be worth minimum of 10 years R.I.  He is a monster, pure and simple” said a soft-ware engineer.

“May I remind that we live in India and people are INNOCENT until proven guilty”, sarcastically quipped an office-goer in his mid-forties.

“He deserved to be beaten to death.  Why a public hanging should not be recommended?”  exploded an angry young man.

“All pedophiles need to be killed”.

“Cut him up in little pieces and feed them to the vultures”.  “This is a very sick act to commit by any human standard”.

“If a four-year old girl is not spared, why should you spare the “Pascal’?
"Why this kola veri?"

The anger was all round,  loud and clear.  A disgrace to see so many perverts these days, we do not know how many cases go unreported because the kids are afraid to tell any one what had happened and the medico- legal procedure to validate is cumbersome.

Parents can be preventive by telling the children that if someone tries to touch your body and do things that will make you funny, say NO to that person and tell mom straight away.  As parents, our job is primarily to protect our children.  When parents are absent or not productively involved in their children’s life, that puts the kids at risk of the predators and other such sick people who prey on innocent little girls.

Take care!  Accidents always arrive unannounced!!

Dear parents,  you better tune into your instincts and listen to your children.  Your children are the best thing in your life, the most valuable. Protect them at any costs!

We are living with crimes. Crimes against children are not new. We have already accepted dilution of core values.  But this story of the father-turned-predator pricked in me a beyond-disappointment.

The verdict:

1. The father in question, nay, the questionable father must be penalized with death sentence, if not castration, without delay; (no wonder crime rates are low in Gulf nations!)

2. Paid expert-counselling and comprehensive medical attention should be afforded to the girl, and the mother (if need be).

Let's pray the small girl speedily recovers from such abhorrent experience.   And hope she will  be able to move forward in her life.

Wishing her nothing but the Best!

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Also read: http://kmurthy608.blogspot.in/2014/07/campus-rape-who-are-these-predators.html