Amidst the din of drug cases, rave parties and the further expose of Goa slipping into a crater of vice, there was a judgment of the Goa Children’s court which may have buried in the din. The judgment gives us hope that ultimately it is the judiciary which still remains the temple of justice for minors, underprivileged, women and children.

Almost six years after the arts school teacher from one of Panjim’s progressive schools molested and took pictures of one of his minor students after taking her to a flat in Ribandar on the pretext of giving career guidance lessons, post which she immolated herself, the pervert teacher, Kanhaiya Naik has been given four years of rigorous imprisonment. Since all the material evidence and the nature and strength of the arguments and statements before the honourable Children’s Court is not at hand and even otherwise, we need to accept the verdict in totality.

But this is a fit case for the State to take in appeal to a Higher court for a higher quantum of sentence, given the fact that this minor girl, set herself on fire after her brute teacher, got bail in January 2012 shortly after he had violated her in December 2011. We do not know now where her father, a poor Nepali man who lived in Goa then, is. We are not aware if he knows of the first glimmer of hope and justice that his now deceased daughter has received. We do not even know if he is in a state to fathom if this justice is enough or whether he needs the state to carry on the fight so that this so called ‘teacher’ whose actions led to the death of his daughter, does not walk free after four years.

We as a society are far too feeble in reacting or taking up for the cause of girls/women and their families who are victims of molestation, abuse, rape and other forms of violence inflicted on them. The trial of the brute teacher and the verdict that he got from the Children’s Court was just another piece of news which wouldn’t even have stayed in public memory for more than half a minute. We in the media should also appropriate guilt to our selves by not staying with these causes and issues long enough to make a long lasting impact which will give us a world which has no place for people like Kanhaiya Naik.

Honouring a verdict of any court is mandatory, but it is our very constitution and the system of jurisprudence that allows to us appeal even if sentences are just, against the quantum of punishment. The government as well as civil society, including organisations and NGOs, should have moved by now or should be planning to do so, since it’ll soon be a week. We ask, have women and children’s rights groups picked up the copy of the Children’s Court judgment. Has the law department even considered looking at the judgment and preparing ground for appeal? Even if we account for the fact that certified copies may still be awaited, we are raising this as an advance red flag so that this story and this cause doesn’t slip out of public memory.

The young minor, who took her life because her art teacher violated her body, her soul and her very being by betraying the solemn trust that a student reposes on her teacher, should not be allowed to become a nameless statistic. Goa owes it to a family which is not even in a position to keep this fight alive.

Goa owes this to all women and young and minor girls. If the collective effort of its people and the will of the State, manages to convince the higher judiciary that an art teacher who is responsible for the death of a young girl, due to his criminal sexual misconduct, should be behind bars for the rest of his life, we would have done our bit for all our little daughters, who will grow up as women and face the world, after we are gone.