It is years of joyfulness with the only responsibility being studies. To ensure this, the system has to protect the children as they are unable to do it themselves. But, against the background of rising cases against minors in the State, do the children of Goa have that protection? The statistics are quite revealing as in the first quarter of the year, the State recorded 92 offences against minors, and of these nearly a dozen were of sexual abuse against girls, while four were of abandoned minors. In addition there were 13 cases of child kidnapping during the same period.
The most shocking, and this is a mild word to describe this, were five offences against juveniles all on the same day that places a huge question mark on the safety of children in the State. More horrifying is that family members were involved in some of the cases, in one the mother of a 14-year-old conniving with an occultist who has been arrested for raping the minor. The girl’s mother too has been taken into custody. In another case, only a family member would have been in position to dump a newborn baby into a garbage bin. The baby was found dead. The only word to describe all this can be barbaric. Sadly, this reflects on society and raises the question of what has gone wrong.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
It is shameful that there can be such crimes committed against minors in Goa. A child is sexually abused, another is thrown into a well, a newborn is thrown in the garbage bin, two others are kidnapped. Was this even imaginable? Child abuse, in any manner, scars the individual for life and has to be stopped. It is the duty of the State to keep the children safe.
The State is legally responsible for the welfare of its residents, and these residents include children. When a child commits an offence, the State steps in by placing the minor in a corrective institution that is usually run by the government. Here it is providing justice but it also has the obligation of providing a safe environment for the children of the land, and from recent cases, it does appear that the State has not been able to fulfil that responsibility. Ensuring the safety of every child is an essential duty of any administration. We have laws especially to protect children, institutions to reform them, special courts to tackle these cases, but are they serving the purpose?
In the light of the current cases, it is imperative to look at crime against minors on a broader aspect and develop preventive strategies that can be enforced to protect the child, to guarantee them justice. The first protection will always have to come from the family, but the community and the State also have major roles to play. It is important that the education system teaches children to recognise what could be a potential danger and report it without fear. This should not be restricted to molestation but also on how to recognise common kidnapping tactics. It will build children’s self confidence especially when dealing with strangers. Such awareness should be complemented with self-defence techniques that can be part of the teaching, where the very basic skills are taught in schools. Only if the administration makes this mandatory in schools can it happen.
There are challenges and they have to be addressed. The sooner this is done the more beneficial to all. Children have to be given the best environment to grow and it should be without any lurking dangers from ill-intentioned adults. A legal system that strictly acts on perpetrators of crime can achieve this by making an example of how firmly it acts against persons charged with crimes against children.
