There seems to be no end to the incidents of young school-going girls being violated and the ‘rakshaks’ (guardians) becoming ‘bhakshaks’ (violators). On Friday, February 16, Mopa police arrested a 42-year-old employee of the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) on charges of kidnapping and raping a 13-year-old school student. The accused SAG employee was working as a groundsman at the school where the victim girl is a student. According to the police, thriving on the innocence of the girl, the accused took her for a drive in his car and raped her. He deleted all the messages sent to the victim, clearly indicating that the accused was well aware that he was committing a crime and destroyed the evidence, expecting no one to ever know about the dark episode in the victim girl’s life.
Cases of adolescent girls being lured and sexually exploited in schools are on the rise. Children who have not even attained puberty are being raped and society is calm as if ‘all is well’. There have been no candlelight marches, no demonstrations to seek justice for these young lives and bring about a social change.
The silence of the feminist movement groups and the women’s rights activists is deafening. What happened to the Mahila Morcha cells of the political parties, the youth wings and the student wings? Do they all speak up and make noise only when their political masters are in trouble? Isn’t fighting for the little girls and their safety and security their concern?
Some activists have been holding press conferences at prominent places and meeting the Chief Minister and the police chief seeking a speedy process to nab those who have cheated women on the pretext of marriage and exploited the consensual behaviour. Their fight is valid and should be supported, but the same activists have not even raised a concern inspite of the large number of cases involving children during the last academic year. It is difficult to assess the possible reasons for such behaviour from these activists. What is holding them back?
What is the Headmasters Association doing about the ever-increasing predatory behaviour of those who have been entrusted with the responsibility of safeguarding the children by the parents? Within the school premises, the Headmasters are responsible for the behaviour of the staff. Have they devised any process or a plan of action to ensure that men and women with harmful credentials do not have access to the children? What has the government done to ensure a safe environment on campuses?
The Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights recently issued an advisory on the implementation of the POCSO Act and the role of counsellors. The least the government can do is, immediately recruit trained counsellors so that students can have access to atleast someone to who they can reach out at any given time without the fear of being judged.
It has taken centuries for the girl child to be saved from being buried alive at birth to raising to become the President of the largest democratic State in the world. It has been centuries of struggle and sacrifices of prophets, saints, social reformers and activists, both men and women, to give women, what we have been terming ‘equality’.
Despite being highly literate, having an equally fair ratio of higher education and boasting of being amongst the best indicators of economic progress, Goa has digressed to the dark ages. The State will have to answer for its failures. Are the people’s representatives only going to submerge themselves in the politics of temples, mosques and churches, or will they show their spine and stand with the girls irrespective of their religion, caste, economic status, age, place of birth and their potential voting constituency?
Last year, two sisters stopped going to school after one of them was molested by a teacher; and he continued to teach in the school even after months of the incident being reported.
The violation of children’s future must stop and it’s high time that every sane individual steps up to save the State from digressing into a lawless society.
