Insensitive adults of society : Violating the innocence of kids
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 23 2011 -

It is scary. When children are stalked, preyed, raped, killed and the so called matured adults of society behave in a manner that threatens to sideline the very issue of kids becoming targets of lust then it is a damning statement on the moral vacuum of the world inhabited by the adults.

Ten year old Nafisa Sahane was allegedly raped and then flung to her death from the tenth floor of a high rise building at Minuthong on December 17 and instead of pursuing the case to its logical conclusion what has emerged is a case of two groups of people formed by adults trading charges and counter charges on where the owner of the building should stand vis-a-vis the rape and murder of the girl child.

A perfect reflection of a state where adults or the so called grown ups of society have no moral compunction in pursuing their own agenda and the picture becomes all that more dirty when viewed against the “Rs 10 lakhs” allegation.

The proverbial tip of the iceberg, which may be understood as the overall rot and decay to which society as a whole has slipped into.

This is not the first time that adults of society have failed to protect their children. Wind back to 2003 and the memory of the brutal murder of Lungnila Elizabeth continues to haunt the people, at least the conscientious section of society.

Here is a story of a little girl, kidnapped from just outside her school after class with her decomposed body found a few days later tucked inside a gunny bag.

Four years down the line after the case of Lungnila Elizabeth had shocked the sensibilities of the people, two more children from Senapati disappeared only to be found in their skeletal remains on a hill slope.

Even today no one seems to know who killed Hrinii Hubert and Muheni Martin. There have been other equally chilling stories.

In 2008 a six year old girl child was found brutally murdered at Telipati with her earring and necklace stolen.

Somewhere around this time, another child was found murdered with his earring stolen and no it was not the State agency which tracked down the alleged killer but the proscribed PLA. The retribution was swift and without mercy and the killer was executed soon by the same outfit.

A case of an extra-Constitutional body stepping in to fill up the void created by the State agency and this says many things, which only a people who have experienced this first hand can acknowledge.

Chief Minister O Ibobi took pains to explain on the floor of the House on December 20 that two suspects have been rounded up in connection with the rape and killing of the 10 year old girl child. This may appear that the State is at least doing something, but if the past is any indication, it does not provide much comfort.

Nearly ten years down the line and no one knows what has happened to the case of Lungnila Elizabeth, with the most pronounced being the news that one of the prime accused, James Kuki was released on parole by the NSCN (IM).

This was before the accused fell into the net of the CBI. No responsibility was fixed for the ham handed manner in which the case of the little girl was pursued.

The story of the two Senapati children, Hrinii Hubert and Muheni Martin followed the same pattern. In all cases, what has emerged clearly is the utter lack of professionalism on the part of the agency concerned.

The State Government did nothing to show it meant business and the same callousness towards such crimes continues to this day. In between, Manipur witnessed a number of cases of children disappearing only to re-emerge amid inaudible whispers of them being taken away to be enrolled as cadres of some underground outfits.

A case of the fear factor rendering everyone inaudible ?

If kidnapping, rape, murder and sexual molestation of children come under the sphere of the outrageous and unacceptable behaviour then how does one dub the act of pulling out children from their class rooms to stage a rally or participate in a dharna on issues in which they have little or no understanding at all ?

How does one classify the very act of snatching books from children inside their classrooms and consigning them to flames ?

Such acts may not come under the 'classical' understanding of crimes against children, but they do reflect the growing insensitivity of the adults towards the innocent world of children.

Something has to give. For too long the so called adults have been violating the world of children .