Laws in place to curb abuse of women and children

Diluted sentences meted out:

By L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHCI

Attorney-at-Law Kalyananda Thiranagama	Senior Lecturer Dr. Praneeth Abeysundara
Dr. Ajith Tennekoon, Consultant Judicial Medical Officer	DIG Police, Galle Vjaya Amarasuriya

The existing laws on "child abuse and harassment of women" are being implemented in a very lenient manner, Attorney-at-Law, Kalyananda Thiranagama said. If the existing laws and regulations were properly implemented child abuse and harassment of women could be reduced or controlled to a certain extent, he said.

Under the prevailing law, ten years or eighteen years rigorous imprisonment could be given for an accused in a rape case, but very often a suspended sentence and fines are given for a person accused of rape.

He said that the number of child rapes under 18 years of age have increased by 300 percent from 1997 to 2010 and as such certain provisions of the law should be amended. "Although the Children and Young Person Act was revised in 2004 on the suggestions and recommendations of some lawyers including myself, there was an inordinate delay to bring it before parliament to be legalised," he said.

Certain electronic media have forgotten their social responsibilities. For instance T.V. Channels commence programs with "Dharmadeshana" in the early hours of the day. The very same TV channels televise immoral and unethical programs in the evening from 8 p.m. till midnight. In fact such programs poison the minds of children and youngsters who watch these programs, he said.

For the first time in its history the Child Development and Women's Affairs Ministry, organised a workshop of this nature exclusively for men by selecting 100 men from different strata of society who participated at this workshop held at Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. The theme of the workshop was "Men too can make a difference"

Prominent personalities like eminent educationalists and scholars in the spheres of medicine, sociology, criminology and media addressed the workshop. Multi media presentations were also made on "child abuse and women harassment" in between.

Child Development and Women's Affairs Minister, Tissa Karalliyadda was the chief guest while Deputy Minister A. H. M. Hisbulla was the guest of honour.

In fact all the distinguished personalities who participated at this workshop explained indetail about the "women harassment and child abuse".

Minister Tissa Karalliyadde said that his ministry is very keen in conducting "workshops" islandwide for men to educate them to put a halt to the prevailing immoral and uncivilized concept of child abuse and harassment of women.

Senior lecturer Sociology and Anthropology of the Sri Jayawardenapura University Dr. Praneeth Abeysundara said that the present Sri Lankan society had completely deviated from the time honoured customs and traditions and cultural values taught by all religions from time immemorial.

He said that it is an accepted fact that in the present society, the most harassed victims are women. We never heard of 'women harassment' in the past our parents both father and mother had maintained lofty ideas and ideals and mutual understanding among themselves and brought up children in a religious atmosphere.

This led them to lead a peaceful and harmonious life and to be good citizens in society. He analysed the reasons for this type of inhuman behaviour and "why men behave in such a cruel manner towards women and children".

He said "why can't men consider women as their mothers and sisters. This indeed is due to lack of reading valuable religious literature which shows how to lead a high disciplined and moral life for the betterment of society.

Abeysundara said that only four (4) graduates out of 250 who joined the society forces recently had read the great Sinhala novel "Viragaya" written by eminent Sri Lankan novelist Martin Wickramasinghe.

He said that recent research conducted by Sri Jayawardenapura University - MA - students have revealed in detail the cruelty and hatred inflicted towards "women" in Sri Lanka.

The quality of some teledramas TV commercials and TV programs have deteriorated to a great extent which highlight the harassment of women. The electronic and print media should refrain from televising harassment of women. He stressed that "women harassment" should be totally eradicated from civilized society.

Consultant, Judicial Medical Officer, Institute of Legal Medicine and Toxicology, Dr. Ajith Tennakoon said that various violation are taking place daily against children and women due to poverty, cruelty, negligence and various other reasons.

Dr. Tennekoon said women who were subject to violence often suffer from social isolation, low-self-esteem, inability to develop their skills, and suffer from emotional and psychiatric disturbances.

"These women are subject to punching, kicking, trampling, strangulation and even biting. This type of behaviour should stop and can be prevented altogether if the message is given to everyone in the classroom as well as at home, Dr. Tennekoon said.

"There was a dire need to educate men in order to protect women in society", he said. Most cases of violence take place within the home itself and that victims of violence were often unemployed persons who were dependent on their spouses. Due to this they were even more vulnerable, Dr. Tennekoon said. According to surveys on violence against women those who were responsible for violence were men between the ages of 30 to 35 years. People often think violence against women is an over-debated topic that has little meaning, but it is a serious problem that needs to be addressed as large numbers of women are suffering from severe abuse and violence, Dr. Tennekoon said.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Galle Vijaya Amarasuriya said Sri Lanka's laws on violence against women were such that there were provisions which clearly stated that an assault which could result in severe punishment to the offender. "Unfortunately these laws are not recognised in Sri Lanka as people know very little about them.

If people are aware of how strict our laws are in theory and if they are strictly implemented people will not lay a hand on a women, the DIG said. He said that people should control their emotions, so that they may not commit any wrongs. If they can't control their emotions they have to face grave consequences and suspects will be dealt with according to the civil law of the country.