DNA Edit: Brutal ways of adults

When children are tonsured, stripped and paraded in public wearing garlands of slippers, we should think twice before calling ourselves a civilised society. No one protested when Mehmood Pathan, a shopkeeper in Thane, and his sons subjected two kids to such humiliation in full public view for stealing a food item on Saturday. Had it not been for the parents, who were justifiably furious at the treatment meted out to their wards and lodged a police complaint, the sordid incident wouldn’t have come to the attention of the law-enforcers.

One aged 9 and the other 8, the kids, hailing from Dalit families, reside in the same neighbourhood in Thane’s Ulhasnagar town, where Pathan runs a sweetmeat shop. There are at least two important takeaways from the gruesome affair. One, in India, children are vulnerable to torture and exploitation. And second, there is very little awareness of the raft of legislations, including Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) aimed at protecting child rights.

One can always argue that the existing legal provisions in India — when compared to the stringent laws in first-world countries — are far from adequate, but even with the current framework, the biggest lacuna has been the implementation of laws. That Pathan and millions of others can trample upon the rights of children is a phenomenon borne out of arrogance. If unchecked, this will co-exist with the country’s tall claims of being protective of children’s well-being.

Violence against children is a routine affair in most households where parents resort to physical punishment to chastise the minor. Despite government circulars asking educational institutions to refrain from resorting to corporal punishment, many schools still adhere to the spare-the-rod-and-spoil-the-child philosophy. Alongside this institutionalised form of violence, are harrowing accounts of poor children being sexually brutalised, trafficked for prostitution or forced to work as labourers. And now, with the ubiquitous presence of the Internet, kids with access to computers and smartphones are falling victim to online predators. Ironically, the centrepiece in the Shining India narrative is the country’s demographic dividend. If India truly wants to invest in tomorrow’s youth, it should begin with today’s children.

Though Pathan and his two sons have been booked under various sections of the IPC and the POCSO Act, it does little to address the pervasive scourge of child abuse. That requires the combined effort of citizens and the government. Are we willing to step up to the plate?