Idea behind State Child Policy : Robbing their innocence
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 01, 2012 -

It is more than a call for a policy statement. Central to the demand for a Child Policy in the State is the explicit admission that the child of today is exposed to numerous hazards.

An admission that the inbuilt mechanisms of society have failed to ensure the protection of the child from dangers that may come under different shapes and sizes and hence a legislation is needed from the State.

It is against this backdrop that the demand raised by the Manipur Alliance for Child Rights should be viewed and appreciated.

Again it is in line with this sentiment that steps are afoot to constitute the Manipur State Commission for Child Rights to be headed by a Chairperson along with three members and a Member Secretary.

The need to come out with a policy to go some way in protecting the rights and privileges of the child is in direct proportion to the all pervading feeling that the safety of the child, especially the girl child, can no longer be taken for granted.

A damning statement on society as a whole and there is nothing to gloss over this.

Way back in 2003, a Class III student, Lungnila Elizabeth was kidnapped from outside her school with her decomposed body discovered a few days later.

Hriini Hubert and Muheni Martin went missing for days before their skeletal remains were found days later on a hillock at Senapati district headquarters, a few years later.

Mind numbing cases of crime against the child and no these cannot be taken as aberrations for these are just two examples that have been cited. In between and earlier too, there have been cases of children being outraged, molested, raped and killed.

Obviously the world no longer acknowledges the innocence of the child and Manipur is not an exception to this.

In fact situation has come to such a pass that it is no longer thought safe for children to roam around the neighbourhood, more so for the girl child. A reflection of a sick and decadent society, which has hit rock bottom on the moral graph.

A scary situation indeed. Laws and legislations will not amount to foolproof measures to ensure the protection and security of the child, but it is time for the State to acknowledge that adults by and large have failed to provide a secure environment for the kids.

This is where the need for the State to step in arises. At the least the message that the State does care for the safety and security for the children would have been rung out.

This is important. Demented minds will continue to stalk the weak and the vulnerable and children occupy a prominent spot in the list of the vulnerable.

And the past has demonstrated how easily children have been at the receiving end of some of these perverts.

As things go here, it has been more a case of non-State actors dispensing their brand of justice, when crimes are committed against children, exposing the weakness of the State agencies.

Rights of the child need not be seen only through the prism of physical violence committed against them, but should also be seen in the larger context of their right to education, right to food and right to grow up in a conducive atmosphere.

The interesting question is whether the State has been able to ensure any of these or is more guilty of depriving these inherent rights wilfully or through sheer apathy and corruption.

A State Child Policy should look to address these issues and more.