21 children from Manipur : Just statistics to the Govt
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 23, 2013 -
The silence is deafening. A case of the trauma and ordeal of the most marginalised section of society going unheard in the corridors of power.
Now ten days since they were rescued from two dubious children’s home and the State Government is yet to say anything officially.
Not even a single representative has been despatched to Jaipur to take stock of the situation and personally study the situation in which the children find themselves in. A look at the figure should tell a story of its own.
Of the 51 children rescued from two children’s home in Jaipur, 21 are from Manipur, with 17 from Ukhrul district. Yet not a single word has come from the people who matter.
Not from the Chief Minister and certainly not from the Social Welfare Minister. No one from the Child Welfare Committee has said anything in the public domain.
The Social Welfare Director spoke out only after being contacted by The Sangai Express.
Contrast this with Nagaland. Of the 51 children, 6 are from Nagaland, but this was more than enough for its Chief Minister Nephiu Rio to speak out his mind and intention on the matter.
The contrast is disturbing. What is stopping the State Government from sending a team to Jaipur to take a first hand account of the story there ?
To be sure there will be no answer to this question. At the best the State Government and the Departments concerned may just come out with some explanations, which will be hard to understand.
If the State Government and its agencies have demonstrated their insensitivity, the three MLAs from Ukhrul district in particular and others too have not fallen behind. People’s representatives.
Obviously the most marginalised section and deprived children do not figure on their priority list, for reasons which need not be spelt out here.
Now with reports coming in that some of the children may have been sexually abused, the matter is all that more grave.
Rest assured, this report too will most probably fail to stir the conscience of the people who are there to look after affairs concerning children.
With the main accused, reportedly seeking bail, this is all the more reason why the State Government, the departments concerned and the officials concerned should see to it that a strong case is built.
Indifference and insensitivity will only provide more space to the accused to plead their case. This mentality sucks.
Why can’t a point as simple as children, correction, our children, being subjected to physical and psychological trauma move the hearts and heads of the people who are at the helm of affairs ?
Raise this question, all should, until those sitting in the ivory towers realise that they have a bounden duty to ensure the protection of each and every child.
This is not the time to resort to officialdom and let the issue fester. The figure of 21 children from Manipur obviously has only meant statistics to the babudom here.
The failure to move beyond the statistics and see the 21 as 21 living and breathing children, who may have been subjected to the most inhumane treatment possible, may be the primary reason for the deafening silence the Government has maintained.
March 12 was the date on which the children were rescued and fast forward by 10 days and there is nothing as yet to suggest that the word ‘rescue’ has meant anything positive for the children.
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