Child abuse:

Parents and society should be more alert - SSP Wickremesinghe

By Manjula FERNANDO

Director, Children and Women Bureau of the Police SSP Jayantha Wickremesinghe was interviewed by the Sunday Observer last week to inquire as to why society is witnessing a sudden surge in child sex abuse cases.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: What is the reason for so many sexual abuse cases involving children being reported in Sri Lanka of late?

A: Eighty percent of rape cases reported in Sri Lanka are of children, below 18 years of age. The other 20 percent are of adult women. Most of this 80 percent are of children below 16 years. And quite a large number of cases get reported of girls who have eloped with their boyfriends.

According to our law underage children below 16 years, cannot get married. Even if they have the consent of each other and their parents the law says it is an offence.

If there is an act of sex involved then it becomes a rape case. Parents of teenage children, especially those in the ages of 16 and so, should be extremely observant of their behaviour.

This is a difficult age. If parents don’t show affection and love they crave for, if they cannot find it at home they will definitely look for it elsewhere.

It is not just an ‘option’ to have a close relationship with your daughter, think of it as a ‘must’. Especially daughters must see a friend in their mother. If not children drift apart.

Our economy is such it is not easy for mothers to stay at home. Both parents work in offices and when they come home their time is spent doing housework.

They have little time if at all to spend with their children.

This is a strain on family bonds. Parents are like machines, they wake up early morning, they do everything necessary for the children - cook their food, send them to school on time, in the evening the children have tuition classes. That is alright, but children feel isolated and dejected in their own home.

Q: Have you noticed a pattern with incidents of sexual abuse of young children?

A: Most of the rape cases of minors are committed by a blood relative, a neighbour or a family friend. About two to three rape or child abuse cases get reported every 24 hours.

When you take into account most of the cases where small children get abused, it is always a troubled family unit, either the mother has gone abroad, or the father has gone abroad or the father and mother have separated.

When there is a strong family bond, room for such acts or for abusers to approach children are rare. When it is broken, ‘predators’ take advantage of this situation.

Q: There were allegations against religious leaders that they were to some extent responsible for the erosion of values and ethics in society?

A: It is like this, those under 16 years cannot get married with or without the consent of parents. But in Sri Lanka a lot of marriages of girls below 16 years takes place.

Such things became a prominent feature in our culture when the irrigation settlements were set up during the D.S. Senanayake period in Ampara district.

In the Narahenpita incident, the child was escorted by her uncle, onlookers can assume that he is taking her home or for some important thing. It is not always easy to hold those who saw someone taking a child responsible unless they witness the child being abused by the suspect.

The primary responsibility lies with parents and neighbours and friends cannot be held responsible. A lot of people by the road may have seen him taking this girl, but it’s not an unusual thing in our society for an ‘uncle’ to escort a child.

Here, society cannot be blamed. But the mother or the father or the child’s guardian should be cautious of relatives.

Neighbours may not know, but the bad eggs in a family are generally known among family circles.

The objective should be to prevent incidents and not to take the law into their hands and act senselessly when a crime is committed.

We have 43 police divisions and 428 police stations. Children and Women’s units have been set up to receive complaints. We conduct awareness lectures in schools, targeting students of grades 9,10 and 11.

Then parents of children of these age categories are made aware of their responsibilities and the mistakes they should avoid.

It is important to stress that sending to school, giving supplementary education, feeding them properly and giving them a house to stay is not enough when it comes to parenting. Parenting is much more than that. Parents, especially mothers must develop a special bond with their children, as they grow up this bond should also grow.

It is important that they have an environment where they can discuss almost anything with at least one of the parents. Then only children will come home and talk about how their day was spent. In a house like that there is no space for children to be abused or raped. This message must go across to our parents.

Q: Can the present law punish those who indirectly supported the act of child abuse. For instance if someone who had the knowledge of a child being abused, but did not take action either to stop it or report it to authorities?

A: Definitely they can be charged and we have in fact taken action against such individuals. Such things happen when there is a step father involved. If the step father is molesting a child the mother is reluctant to speak up.

In such instance we can take action against even the mother under the Penal Code Act No.22 of 1995.

We are currently probing a similar case where a nine-year-old child has been repeatedly molested by an adult in the house with the knowledge of the mother.

We will be arresting the suspects including the mother soon and the details can be released after their arrest.

For an offence of child abuse a person can be jailed from ten to twenty years of hard labour and if it involves multiple charges the sentence could be longer. Last week a judge jailed a man for 40 years in prison for sexually abusing a child.

Q: What could be the underlying factors contributing to the apparent surge in child abuse cases?

A: There are so many factors. The internet, unethical cyber-cafes, free circulation of pornographic material as well as split families, working mothers and erosion of values and ethics among people.

Q: Do you think the existing legal framework suffices to punish offenders of child abuse and works as a deterrent to such incidents?

A: The law is there. But the law alone can do very little. Parents and society’s contribution is vital.

Deterrent punishment – answer to child abuse

The increasing number of child molestation and sexual abuse cases reported countrywide has prompted the relevant authorities to think afresh about the child protection issue in Sri Lanka.

As a country which has set up an authority to protect child rights and ensure their safety, it is disgraceful to see such an increase in the number of incidents reported in the country specially involving local and provincial politicians. Many in society are concerned about this deplorable situation are of the opinion that stringent punishment should be imposed for those found guilty.

The Chairperson of the Child Protection Authority, Anoma Dissanayake has renewed her request to the Government to impose the death penalty against child molesters. The Sunday Observer interviewed a cross section of society about this issue to get their opinion on the increasing number of child abuse cases and their suggestion to prevent such incidents.

Jayantha Wickremaratne, Commissioner, Bribery Commission and former Inspector General of Police.

I personally believe that if we are to put a stop to child abuse and molestation cases, we need to impose deterrent punishment for those found guilty. That has to be done not only once they are found guilty, but also during the period their cases are heard in Courts by not releasing them on bail. Equal deterrent punishment should also be imposed with regard to narcotic cases also because those who are involved in these cases are basically not so educated.

The only punishment they fear is the death penalty. I personally know how these criminals who are served with the death sentence by the Courts were scared when the Government was searching for a hangman and rope to re-implement capital punishment.

Punishment

That was the only punishment they were scared of and they adjust to any other form of punishment.When we talk about capital punishment or other deterrent punishment we should also consider them on a case by case basis, because in child molestation cases which have been reported recently were not only due to the fault of offenders, parents and adults those who look after children are responsible for the tragic incidents faced by innocent children. Therefore, we should be mindful in imposing capital punishment or any other strict punishment to see whether these things are happening in a more organised manner.

In some cases the Police are reluctant to take action against those who are responsible for those offences due to political affiliations of offenders. Provincial Councillors and local politicians engaged in such incidents are also not so educated senior politicians and the top hierarchy should give them a clear cut message that there is no help when they are found guilty. I am happy that local and Provincial Council politicians were arrested by the Police when they were found guilty without any political interference. Even at the remand prison they should not be treated in the same manner like other offenders.

They should not be given bail until the Court hearings are over. The authorities should also be mindful to expedite the hearing of such cases like in the Rita John rape and murder case and Hokandara murder cases. The present day laws have to be changed on par with existing crimes in the country and death sentence should be given for those involved in those crimes.

The media also should not make heroes of those offenders.

Moulavi Ahmed Shah:
Jamali Fayazi, Qadiri/Chisti

In my opinion if we are to find a solution for the increase in the number of child abuse and molestation cases, we have to look at the root of the problem. There are several factors contributing to this situation. Films that can be accessed by children is one of the contributing factors. When we go along the streets we can see so many billboards showing bedroom scenes. The children record these things in their minds.

The other factor is the behaviour of adults in the presence of children. Even when we travel in buses we can see couples behaving like husband and wife inside buses. Children observe this behaviour and keep it in their minds. We don’t have ways to avoid such things. The free access to Internet is also another major contributing factor for this situation. We see a lot of schoolchildren spending their time at Internet cafes after school time and access to various websites. We need the Internet, but there should be limitations for the children when using the Internet.

In Sri Lanka we have a unique culture and we have to maintain those values in our culture irrespective of our religious affiliations. I am also of the opinion that we should impose strict punishment for those found guilty of those offences. By imposing these punishment we can prevent some of the incidents, but cannot completely eradicate it from society. We have to address the root cause of the problem.

With regard to grown up adults committing these crimes against children, Islam clearly states that if a person who has committed prostitution, if he or she is not married they should be given hundred lashes. But if he or she is a married person, the person should be stoned to death, according to Sharia Law. Therefore we should impose strict punishment whether it is capital punishment or any other punishment for child molesters.

RANIL