Rise in violence against children alarming

THAT at least 1,480 children were killed and 1,929 others were raped in the country in five years until 2017, according to a report prepared by the Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum based on newspaper reports, provides yet again a pointer to the sorry state of children rights, on the one hand, and the sustained downslide in law and order, on the other. Child rights activists, as New Age reported on Monday, revealed it on Sunday and expressed concern about what they called an alarming increase in violence against children. They urged the government to attach special importance to completing the trials of the child rights abuse cases within the shortest possible time to prevent the recurrence of such crimes.

In fact, violence against children regardless of their age, sex and class is nothing new. The reasons those murders occurred were family enmity, personal feuds, land disputes and the failure to pay ransom and criminal activities, something that indicates that some social values about keeping at least children off family disputes have also significantly waned.

Regrettably, the staggering number of child victims tends to suggest that law enforcement agencies that have miserably failed to ensure safety and security to public life and property in general have also done so when it comes to children. One can, of course, attribute the negligence of law enforcers about their stipulated duty to the denial of key government functionaries of the ground realities of law and order. 

The criminals also take the advantage of non-enforcement of the relevant laws by law enforcers that have a predilection for lackadaisical approach, especially when it comes to dealing with cases filed by people not belonging to the powerful or influential quarters. As such, children have been exposed to various forms of torture, physical and mental, almost everywhere at home, educational institution or in workplace.

Under the circumstances, the top brass of the home ministry need to come down to earth in the first place and make people responsible for dealing with crimes become serious about rendering their duty. If the government can make the police force accountable, public cooperation, we hope, will not be wanting in stemming further deterioration of the situation. How the police handle the situation and most importantly how the government directs the law enforcement agencies in this regard will have a great bearing on the scene of child abuse.

It will be relevant to note, in this connection, that the Children Act 2013 remains almost ineffective even five years after its enactment, the objective of which was to prevent child rights violation. While the government immediately needs to come out of its slumber over allowing the law at hand to become effective and launch mass awareness programmes in this regard, child rights activists and the saner sections of society must remain watchful about the process of the trial of such grave crimes. 

• Courtesy: New Age /Editorial/May 08 2018