Is there any justice?
‘Safety of women and children is our
priority’,
Politicians shout, when grappling for power,
They promise us all, even tightest
security,
But when in power they tend to cower.
Crimes against women and children
are on the rise,
Children are raped, to extent of
even being killed,
Yet those in power don’t care
if a child dies,
In fact they help those who should be grilled.
When a child is raped,
parents are aggrieved,
The child feels the pain but some
try to blame,
Adding to that trauma, survivor gets
no relief,
When filing complaint, some police instead, makes her feel the shame.
‘Why wear these clothes,
why roam out so late’,
Are allegations which women and children tend to hear,
They are discouraged and are left
in such a state,
Which leaves most survivors,
in constant fear.
Laws and rules are all kept
in the shelves,
Money power is the factor,
integrity is sold,
There is no delivery of justice,
they don’t delve,
Criminal justice system is politically
controlled.
Cases linger on, dates after dates,
Most survivors scared off,
some turning hostile,
Is this what we call justice,
when it’s too late?
Many seek answers, while perpetrators prowl on the child.
Fathers and stepfathers
raping their own child,
And those in position, refuse to help
file a complaint,
These mothers, naturally, protect the men in their lives,
All the laws to prosecute go to the drain.
People in power, involved in the trade of trafficking and rape,
Use the law enforcers, indebted to their political masters,
They then help the perpetrators to escape,
Rather than seizing evidence,
to nail them faster.
Such is the system where everyone is disturbed,
Crying now for death of all the rapists,
Will this solve the problem
or will it curb?
When, delivery of justice is no longer a priority in the list.
Agnes Kharshiing
President of the Civil Society Women’s Organisation
Songs of agony
Stand up for
yourself
A foetus in the mother’s womb
Killed before it could be brought to the world
A girl child born,
Bring mourn to the whole family
Or if the girl child be brought to the world,
She has to face all the difficulties that women for centuries have gone through.
Physical and social harassment,
Have become common words to the world today.
Why is a child of God suffering from the devil of the society?
When are we going to rise
against it?
When are we going to stand up
for our rights?
If we do not stand no body else will do it for us.
So stand up, for your rights.
Snigdha Nath, Holy Child Higher Secondary School
The tale of Asifa
It’s a tale of the daughter of India!
A tale of a beautiful young girl, Asifa.
A playful, cheerful girl with a curly brown hair.
She began her day with a
bright sunshine
Not knowing what awaits,
Grazing her family’s ponies
on a chilly day
In the forest of the
Himalayan foothills;
She was kidnapped, dragged, drugged and locked for four days.
By men using her to satisfy
their lust.
Her beautiful face can be
seen no more;
Her little screaming voice still linger in my ears.
Her little hands seeking for help in the darkness;
Her tears and her pain can
never be forgotten.
I hope the demons find their way to hell
Where darkness and only
darkness prevails.
So stand up, for your rights.
Ruthi Lalhrietmawi, Holy Child Higher Secondary School
The inhuman act
The sky seems blue, not really is;
When beneath a grey cloud of grief and tears prevail.
Our dale seems conducive, not really is; When upon it trod a wild beast that destroy.
Why take that way?
What have we done?
To persue our life , to destroy
Why our future taken to doom?
Our dreams yet to bloom,
But clipped.
Our life so eager to grow.
But insanity uprooted it.
They who claimed, our protector;
Their hearts, evil inhabited.
Their mad desire for pleasure;
Blinded their soul to see.
Their ought and us to destroy
The depth of grief that causes that none can fathom.
Words failed our feelings
Oh! Asifa, our sister dear,
The princess of your father.
The most dear darling to your mother; Daughter of humanity.
The inhuman act of lustful men,
Consumed the innocent you.
We miss you. We love you.
‘ASIFA’ shall remain in the heart of every girl. Held endeared.
You live in our hearts
Oh! Sister dear.
Angela Panmeih, Holy Child Higher Secondary School
The plea
Victims for a while, are
Accused for their whole life.
For the mistakes that was never done by them.
And the one who did it, roams freely alive.
One of such cases,
‘the Kathua Case’
Showed how evil a man can be.
The devil inside him targeted,
An angel, years of eight, whose
Innocent was reflected clearly in her words.
For it is truly said,
‘Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’
Only with clear heart and mind
See the inner beauty of a child.
The rest look at her down as a shame,
But what was the fault or
mistake
Which never was known
or shown by the child.
The crime is clear.
The criminals are clear,
The law is also clear, then
Why to wait for justice, years?
I doubt now.
Is India safe anymore?
Or wasn’t it from before?
Sanjana Rani, Holy Child Higher Secondary School
CRY FOR JUSTICE
We got our “Independence” from British rule 70 years ago. But what about freedom? We fought for freedom many years back and now we have to fight again. But not for freedom from the external control, we have to fight for freedom within our country. We need to fight for women’s freedom, for women’s pride and their rights.
We no longer need to worry about foreign powers ruling us. We instead need to worry about the type of people and the government that protect us. If we are not careful, we will soon have to fight for our freedom to live a contended life. Asifa was an innocent eight-year-old girl yet she was targeted by fanatic Hindus who wanted to rid the area of her nomadic Muslim community. Her case is known worldwide and is too appalling to be recounted. The eight accused men, however, have a large group of people supporting them, including two members of the ruling party.
What has India come to? People are supporting rapists. How are such people supposed to be brought to justice if the citizens support them? Many children like Asifa are crying for justice, for justice can never be seen unless you change the system. We need to bring a change to this hypocritical system of government in our country.
Discussing rape in India is still a taboo but in order to stay safe, we need to know about it. Teach boys to be respectable and it might end rape in our country. Girls need not be afraid of boys or men. Why should we? We are all humans, aren’t we? We girls should live freely without fear or shame. When will India become the country that Tagore always prayed for? If we don’t change it now, India will most definitely crumble and fade away. “Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake”.
Charlene Nafisa Syiemiong, Holy Child Higher Secondary School
Child abuse in India
A child is the future citizen of the country. Only those children who grow up in a healthy atmosphere can contribute to the development and strength of their country.
A large number of children in our country, because of poverty, do not go to school or are withdrawn from schools before they complete their elementary education and are forced to start earning at a young age in factories, brick kilns, restaurants, hotels and shops. This hampers their growth physically, mentally and emotionally. They grow with hatred and agony and fail to become worthy citizens of the nation.
A child in the age group of 6-14 years is supposed to be in school. But unfortunately of the 200 million Indian children in this age group, about 11.3 million are labourers. The estimate by NGOs puts it at 60 million, of which 2,00,000 work as domestic helps and almost an equal number as bonded labourers. These children become vulnerable to physical and mental exploitation, they are starved, beaten and even sexually exploited. This is a serious problem and is generally known as ‘child abuse’.
The Right to Education Act, 2009, mandates education for all children between the age of 6 and 14 years. Once this cherished goal of education for all is achieved, the state of children in our country will be much better.
We all have to put in our efforts in this regard and set aside our time and at least a certain percentage of our money to give opportunity to at least one underprivileged child from our neighbourhood to go to school.
No country can progress unless it pays adequate attention to the development of children.
As responsible citizens, it is our duty to make sure that they are given the opportunities for good health and education to help our nation develop.
~ Agnivesh Jyotiraditya
(The author is a student of Class X)
Awareness, counselling should be part of education by Ananya S Guha: Page C
Inner Prison
Why is a woman seen that way
When we all come from
mothers
Women gave birth to men
Her body is hers
Dark pavements and
Quiet alleyways
Reek of secret illnesses
Where a child walks
A pervert smirks
Where a sister smiles
A brother stares
Where a mad girl twitches
A neighbour touches
Lost in secret worlds
Of darkness
The pervert
The brother
The neighbour
Let loose libido
Murdering conscience
Faith in God
A hotel with indigenous cuisine
Has paid dancers
There politicians toast to life
Parties are treasure trove
Of little children
Rare gifts of innocence
Stern warnings
And it is all
Strength and pain
Is heard from the door
They say man is evergreen
But he is not all he seems
He has subverted himself
Keeper of thoughts
That beg counsel
Past sins of flesh
That he can think
But not feel
Teardrops of children
He escapes to only
Be imprisoned within.
Willie Gordon Suting
Awareness, counselling should be part of education
By Ananya S Guha
I was watching a television programme dealing with children in Nigeria. The Nigerian government has embarked on a scheme to counsel school students on behaviour with women in general. The crime rate among boys, particularly molestation of girls, women and even rape was rising alarmingly. So the government took upon itself the task of educating boy students about behaviour with girls and women, helping them out in times of need, addressing them politely etc. This programme worked wonders and the crime rates have gone down considerably. The interesting aspect is that this counselling takes place in the classroom and children love it. The lesson to be learnt is — it is part of classroom learning, and secondly, most significantly women are treated not as commodities but complementary soul mates.
The question is, can this be replicated in classrooms in India?
India is a vast country and we have a layered educational system, we have government schools, private schools, government-aided schools, missionary schools and public schools. The schools are broadly divisive: those which cater to the middle classes, the lower middle classes, the marginalised and those which cater to the wealthy. Sexual crimes can be committed in any of these.
While combating this terror, which is manifest in Indian society today — statistics reveal that every 15 minutes there is a child rape in India — the government should incorporate counselling in this context in the national policy on education. Education is not only classroom teaching, education is extension and counselling. Once we have such counselling, the children will be trained to be trainers, in other words they could act as saviours in such situations, even when the perpetrators are adults, by raising alarms.
The next step would be to make such counselling sessions, audio visual, where there are situational narratives and where the child is taken into decision making. Then again come role plays, mock rehearsals and simulation of situations. This then should be an important, if not an integral, part of course curricula and every student should go through the grind, not as an examination but as a compulsory component of school education.
Girl students, on the other hand, should go through a similar exercise as warning situations with concomitant dos and don’ts.
For too long, our education system has been devoid of pragmatism and challenges. The challenges come from within society and education and its salutary aspects must take up such challenges, address societal matters and combat the dark forces within. All along the teachers will be facilitators. It is sadly enough a trenchant irony that teachers too have been culpable in this regard. The onus is now on policy makers to relate education to life and not to shy away from certain ground realities.
Conservatism in attitudes must be banished. About more than two decades back, there was debating on sex education. What was the anathema about it? Sex education meant, and still means, to have healthy relationships and not to regard the opposite sex as commodities. The culture of commodification is alas percolating our society. We have to do away with such misplaced conservatism, which is a paradox because it is exactly such ‘conservatism’ which has resulted in crimes, as a result of pent-up ‘desires’ if one may call it.
The Kathua and Unnao rapes will go down in the history of India as the biggest slur on a nation that boasts of educated people (the perpetrators and supporters in both these cases were educated people) and shockingly enough lawmakers. We need obviously drastic changes in the law to subvert movements of such shocking law breakers. It is only a system, which can cause such an upheaval and what better than an education system? And putting it in its proper social and legal perspectives?
(The author is the regional head of IGNOU, Shillong)