Nowadays, crime against girls is on the rise. They are molested by their family members, teachers, security guards, neighbours and sometimes even by their father. My heart wrenches by seeing with which morals and values, today’s society is living. What is wrong with people? What changed us so drastically that we refused to be human at times?
Since the start of 2016, there are numbers of shocking crimes we heard against females. I don’t know what this government is doing? Modiji came to power with a slogan ‘Band Karo Nari Par War…’ and Beti Bachao…’. Has he forgotten his promises or this too was an election ‘#jumla’?
A teacher of a prominent International school in Jharkhand capital Ranchi was arrested for killing her student, who was reportedly in love with her daughter. Sapphire International School teacher Nezma Khatoon killed the class VII student because she was against him having friendship with her 11-year-old daughter. The boy named Vinay Mahto was found near the teachers’ quarters within the school campus. Khatoon stays with her husband, son and daughter in the school’s quarters. Mahto was badly injured when he was taken to the hospital. CCTV footage helped the police to crack the case, which had become talk of the town ever since the incident was first reported.
Police said that the boy was seen in the CCTV footage walking towards the teachers’ quarters. A little later, a teacher spotted him outside the boys’ hostel with severe injuries. He later succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital.
In another incidence, a 17-year-old girl was burnt alive allegedly by a youth, who had been stalking her, when she resisted his rape attempt in Aurangabad town, Bihar. The incident occurred when the accused ‘Bhola’ barged into the house of the girl when her parents were away and tried to rape her, according to a complaint filed by the girl’s uncle in Sadar Bazar police station. The victim’s uncle alleged that Bhola had been stalking the girl and would often pass lewd comments at her. The girl was a student of Class XI.
There is another shocking incidence from Ashok Vihar, Gurgaon where a 72-year-old principal and director of a private school, Aarsa Public School was booked under the POCSO Act for attempting to rape a 9-year-old minor girl. The incident came to light after the victim refused to go to school. When her mother asked her the reason behind her refusal, the minor narrated her ordeal. According to victim’s mother, the accused had called the Class 2 student to his office after the lunch hours to commit the crime.
Meanwhile, another incident from Delhi came to light in which a 44-year-old tantrik (occultist) raped a woman and duped her of Rs. 35,000 on the pretext of solving all the problems. He has been arrested. The accused has been identified as Sanjay Kumar, a resident of southeast Delhi’s Ambedkar Nagar area. He is married and has four children.
According to the police, the complainant who did not have a good relation with her husband wants to separate from him approached the tantrik. The tantrik took advantage of her vulnerability and persuaded her into conducting a ceremony which he claimed required the burning of an intoxicating substance.
During the ceremony, the woman fainted and when she regained her consciousness, she realised that she had been raped. The tantrik had also charged her Rs. 35,000 for the ceremony, claiming that it was the solution to all her problems in life. Based on a tip off, police laid a trap in Ambedkar Nagar and Sanjay Kumar was arrested on Friday. Kumar told the police that he targeted depressed persons who came to him for solutions. New Delhi and even North India has becoming den for crime against woman. Government needs to be serious about such incidences. Recently, various studies have indicated the seriousness of such cases, but here needs some action.
The study by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) on special courts established under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in Delhi found that the behaviour of police, doctors and lawyers has not changed much since the law was passed. The report found that there were no courtrooms exclusively for child-abuse cases. Few courts had separate rooms for recording witness statements, and there were no waiting rooms or toilets nearby, despite the law’s provisions.
With the introduction of a specific law to tackle child sexual abuse in 2012, till 2014, the number of crimes reported against children increased from 38,172 to 89,423. However, conviction rates were as low as 2.4%, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. The NLSIU report analysed special court verdicts between April and September last year and found that only one in six cases resulted in conviction. Convictions were handed down in 112 cases under the POCSO Act while 555 others ended in acquittal. In 46 cases, the accused was convicted under the Indian Penal Code, but acquitted under the Act.
The report said that about 28% of cases dragged on for longer than a year. In 67% of cases, the child victims gave up on the trials, changed their statements or rescinded their complaints because of threats from the families of those accused of sexual abuse. The report also said that except for Saket and Karkardooma courts, defence lawyers in most other special courts pose questions to the child directly. The POCSO Act prohibits the special public prosecutor and the defence lawyer from putting questions to the child directly. All questions during the examination-in-chief and cross-examination must be routed through the special court. The team studied 667 judgments passed by 20 judges from 1 January 2013 till 30 September 2015.
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