Children left to the mercy of molesters : A shame on society
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 30 2015 -

This is scary.

That is when teachers take advantage of the young kids they are supposed to teach and start sexually assaulting them.

Manipur has seen this news for quite some time now.

Some major cases have caught the attention of the people and they have been grabbing prime space in the local dailies published in Imphal.

Other than teachers or tutors making sexual advances towards the young students, there must be several other such cases, which have not made it to the news.

Some may have gone undetected with the youngsters not reporting the incidents to their parents and elders and in some instances it may be the parents and elders themselves who prefer to forgo the matter in fear of tarnishing the image of their children.

Either way it sucks and reflects poorly on the society as a whole.

Tough to understand the mind of a sex offender, but the fact stands that today there are quite a number of people who have not hesitated in letting their carnal desires get the better of them and in the process defile the sanctity of innocent youngsters.

It was in recognition of the need to come down hard on child molesters that the Government of India passed the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2012.

Rather a bit late in the day but significant to note that the Government has woken up to the gravity of the situation.

Children, as everyone knows are the most vulnerable and to think that one can even harbour thoughts of sexually molesting them is reprehensible but this is a reality and Manipur does not seem to lack demented minds who will not hesitate to target young children to satisfy their carnal lust.

The conviction rate under the POCSO Act however seems to be rather low and this is one reason why this Act does not seem to have had the desired level of deterrent.

No figures of conviction under POCSO with The Sangai Express and this is where it becomes important to question how many have been convicted under this Act so far in Manipur. The figure may not be high, but has this Act deterred potential child molesters ?

In the absence of any exhaustive research it is difficult to give an answer to this, but what stands true is the fact that today a number of children have fallen prey to child molesters and this should be a cause of worry.

Society as a whole need to take cognizance of the fact that every single child molester is a product of this society and this is where the question of how successful has society been in moulding the thought process of the young males needs to be raised.

It is not only children who have been at the receiving end of some demented minds, but even adult women and the number of rape cases that have been reported so far should testify this.

To think that child molesters and rapists abound in a place which celebrates Nupi Lan annually and the situation is indeed unacceptable.