Protecting children from human vultures :

Who has to look after the battered and abused child?

by Justice P.H.K. Kulatilaka

A realisation of guilt for ignoring anti-social and menacing happenings with a cynical sneer would naturally develop an insight in your mind as a member of the community to do whatever possible to bring back to life the poor voiceless children.

Based on the evidence reluctantly elicited from a child victim who was 14 years at the time of the crime, in my prose verse composition ‘Voice for the Voiceless, a brave heart speaks’ published in the Sunday Observer of April 20, I peeped into her deserted mind.

‘I heard the midnight church bell hooting.
In the dark I felt that Satan my father’s demon buddy friend was around.
He squashed me, crushed me and destroyed me.
I swallowed my tongue to save my brother
Who was lying besides me.
It was devastating. It was horrible. I was battered. I was violated. I was totally lost.
Whole world went black for me’.

Gang rape

This was similar to what Sohail Abdulai an Indian victim of gang rape who was 17 years at the crime had spoken to New York Times. ‘Rape is horrible because you are violated, you are scared, somebody takes control of your body and hurts you in the most intimate way’.

Society must understand and be conscious of the fact that the ordeal experienced by the child victim is not going to end even after she was ravished or brutally abused.

Combating pathetic situations arising from having been subjected to a sexual offence is tougher than dealing with preventive or punitive matters. The child victim will often be troubled by feeling of insecurity, seclusion, loneliness and abandonment leading up to mental disorders. Medical experts say the sexually abused children are prone to a string of strokes. Providing them with counselling, medical and psychological assistance is important.

Secondary victimisation

In cases where the accused was a member of the family or extended family [Wattala Magistrate’s Court Case to which I have referred to in my earlier article where the offender was the paternal grandfather is a case in point], when he comes out on bail he would come back to live under the same roof where the already battered child victim lives. There is no doubt that her life is going to be still more embarrassing and horrifying. As things are her trial will take some years. There is every possibility that she would be marginalised within the family itself or may be repeatedly ravished or sexually abused by the accused himself or by another member of the family to take vengeance from the poor hapless child who has no place to go.

This was why I suggested an immediate change in the Bail Law. A judicial officer told me that one of the accused in a child rape case alleged to have said there was nothing wrong in using the child by him because it was he who bore her to this world. In fact this is the mindset of some of the crime doers.

Law empowers the judge to order such children sexually abused by a member of the same family or extended family to be kept in a place of safety for care and protection.

The authors of Women, Sexual violence and the Legal Process in Sri Lanka had this to say about the problem of finding suitable shelter to the sexually abused children. [I prefer to call these children who suffered because of their divine quality of innocence as ‘Brave hearts’.]

Detention

‘These shelters are usually run by government and described as detention centres. Earlier studies have documented cases where girls in shelters, often picked up by the police for street prostitution. Victims were in general from low income families without access to legal aid and counselling’.

In an article by the present NCPA Chairman in the Sunday Observer, on November 9, has referred to the fact that Sri Lanka had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child [CRC] in 1991. She said, ’The CPC recognises that children have rights and privileges. Protection of children is not only giving them shelter and food, it expands beyond mere physical protection. That is a sense of mental security in addition to food, shelter, education and care giving’.

Pregnancy leading to abortions

There had been instances where the victim was conceived by the crime act of the predator and did not want to be the mother of an unwanted child. H.C. Kalutara Case No. 135/02 decided on December 13, 2013 is a case in point. A 13-year-old girl had been ravished by a stranger a 37-year-old father of three children.

It was transpired in court that she became pregnant by the crime act and on medical advice she had undergone an abortion. It is common knowledge that there are shelters run by private institutions/ individuals providing accommodation to such pregnant child victims on the understanding that they handover the babies to them once they are born.

At the same time there are some pregnant child victims who would accept the non-marital child come what may. That was their past Karma. I can remember prosecuting as State Counsel in a child rape case at the non-summary inquiry in the Gampola Magistrate’s Court in 1980. The prosecutrix came to Court carrying a baby the product of gang raping. It was a pathetic scene .That was a case where the perpetrators were men in politics and they were from Panadura.

Fundamental duty

Giving protection to the victims of child rape and grave sexual abuse is a solemn responsibility and fundamental duty of the State in terms of Article 27 [12] and [13] of the Constitution. The NCPA Chairman has underscored the involvement of Child and Women Affairs Ministry and the NCPA in this regard. She has highlighted the importance of the proposed Working with Children Act. It is a step in the right direction in the act of formulating a national policy on prevention of child abuse and rehabilitation of sexually abused children.

In an article titled ‘Care of Children’ published in a daily paper on March 12, 2013 the writer draws his attention inter alia to the plight of children committed into state custody and then neglected. He quite rightly pointed out that the assumption is that on leaving the homes those children are reintegrated with their families.

But often there is no family that can be traced that is willing and suitable to take over the care of such youngsters. In theory the State that had taken responsibility for their care when they were children must also accept responsibility during the transitional period as well. Sadly some of the sexually abused children placed in the custody of State run homes and by private shelters had fallen into prostitution. Our judicial officers told me that quite a number of such sexually abused children who run away from such centers were often produced before them by the police under the provisions of the Vagrants Ordinance. It is a vicious circle. It is refreshing and heartening to hear that the proposed ‘Working with Children Act’ contains provisions to assist the sexually abused children, the voiceless lot. It will make it a legal requirement to ensure that the people who work with or care for children have suitability to do so checked by a government body. Even volunteers have to get a clearance check. Such provisions will no doubt barricade access to abusive men and women who had already suffered at the hands of human vultures.

The editorial of a morning daily of November 29, 2014 referred to a shocking incident where a school principal sexually abused a school boy within the school premises. I do agree with the editor that serious thought should be given to subjecting teacher candidates to psychological screening to ascertain their suitability for handling children.

In rehabilitating the affected children it is important to introduce vocational training programs into children’s homes so that by the time they are released from custody they can work productively and would not be a burden to the family. Livelihood assistance should be provided to them by the State.

I am hopeful that the proposed Act will provide psychological support as well to uplift them in their day to day life.

Vulnerable children

A case in point is the sexually abused children living in shanties and coolie lines. I have in a previous article described the art of living of the dwellers as a culture to themselves. Most of the abused children have no escape. A sense of extreme isolation and hopelessness prevails upon them. The crooked environment they live is utterly unsympathetic. She is being ridiculed by her own family.

There is a dire necessity to identify the abused and vulnerable children. They require counselling and psycho - social support. The State has to discover an effective mechanism to cope up with this situation in the same way it rid the nation of brutal terrorism.

She is a battered child whose future has been destroyed by another member of the community for no fault of hers. The parents must remember that their duty is not limited to bringing forth and looking after the child. It is not confined to bear and rear children. Mettha sutta speaks of the case of a mother protecting her child even at the risk of her life. Human vultures are around. They lie in wait until the right moment comes to strike. In my previous articles I have cited some of the examples. Do protect your child. He or she is your concern. Do not shirk your responsibilities. Something went missing. That was why your child got abused.

Indian rape victim Sohaila Abdulai who I referred to earlier had underscored the point that only families and communities can provide empathy and support to these poor souls.

I reiterate the quote from the Johannesburg Star newspaper making an urgent call to the nation regarding an alarming trend in the incidence of women and child rape in South Africa. It is to the following effect ‘Stand up. Speak out. Help us turn this evil around once and for all’. I thank all the judges who provided me with relevant cases which made my task easier.

The writer is a former Director of the Sri Lanka Judges Institute.