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| Extent of Violence against Children in Arunachal Pradesh with Reference to Gender | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paper Id :
15952 Submission Date :
06/03/2022 Acceptance Date :
11/03/2022 Publication Date :
25/03/2022
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| Abstract | This study explored the types of violence against children in Arunachal Pradesh. The most read English daily – The Arunachal Times published from 2018–2020 were reviewed and based on information on the cases of violence against children reported in the mentioned daily, the investigator drew the conclusion. The finding of the study revealed that types of violence found committed against children in the state are rape, murder, abduction, physical assault, molestation, display of obscene material, psychological violence, abandon, bonded labour, child trafficking and child labour. Further, out of various types of violence against children, cases of rape have been found higher than other types of violence. Comparative analysis of the number of male and female victims revealed that number of female victims is higher than the male victims. However, further in-depth empirical research is needed to verify the findings of this study as the effort is based on the data collected from English daily. Present work is a part of major research project entitled “Status of Violence against Children in Arunachal Pradesh” sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Keywords | Violence, Children, Gender, Arunachal Pradesh. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduction |
WHO defines violence as “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation” and violence against children as “All forms of violence against people under 18 years old, whether perpetrated by parents or other care givers, peers, romantic partners, or strangers”. In a layman term violence against children can be defined as any intentional or unintentional act or behavior which causes physical, mental, psychological or emotional injury to a person under 18 years and which threatened her/his dignity, survival and development. Violence may be self-directed, interpersonal or collective. Violence against children occurs in different forms; physical, sexual, neglect, emotional, and psychological and at multiple levels; individual, household, institutional, and societal (Hyder & Malik, 2007). Violence against children is a global phenomenon as such South Asia is no exception (Hyder & Malik, 2007). It was further stated by them that in countries like India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan, child labour, child sexual abuse and prostitution, child trafficking and homelessness are commonly reported issues. According to World Health Organization, 2018, globally 1 billion children aged 2-17 years have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence or neglect in the past years. These widespread incidences of violence against children, however, do not mean that government in various states; regions or countries do not have concern for violence against children. In fact, since long children rights and welfare concern have been addressed not only at national level but also in number of international conventions. One of the instances is United Nations Convention of the Right of the Child (UNCRC), 1989. Target 16.2 of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development which is to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all form of violence against and torture of children is another serious effort made by the international community towards this direction.
In case of India, the country had ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) long before i.e. in the year 1992. 19% of the world’s children population live in India, which constitutes 42% of India’s total population (Sing, Parsekar & Nair, 2014). Despite of the adoption of number of laws and formulation of range of policies to ensure children’s protection and improvement in their situation but still half out of total child population in India are in need of care and protection. Survey conducted by World Vision India revealed that one in every two children is a victim of sexual abuse and one in every five do not feel safe because of the fear of being sexually abused. |
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| Aim of study | Extent of Violence against Children in Arunachal Pradesh with reference to Gender. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Review of Literature |
The number of cases registered for child abuse raised from 8,904 in the year 2014 to 14, 913 in the year 2015, under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, sexual offences and kidnapping account for 81% of the crimes against minors (Save the Children, 2016). Government figure showed that 18,862 cases of child rape were registered in 2016 or more than 50 each day. The largest number of working children in the world (between 40 and 115 million child workers aged 5-14 years) are found in India (Hyder & Malik, 2007). These facts make it evident that rise in the number of reported cases of violence against children in India is a “national emergency”. |
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| Main Text | Rationale of the study Over the centuries, our view on Children has changed dramatically. During the middle ages, children were perceived as being basically bad, born into the world as evil beings. The goal of child rearing was, thus, to provide salvation. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, children were perceived as “tabula rasa” as such childhood experiences were considered important in determining adult characteristics. Hence, it was advised that parents should spend time with their children and nurture them to imbibe good values to become contributing members of society. Since eighteen century, innate goodness view gain prominence. It was stressed that, children are inherently good, so, with little monitoring from parents and teachers children should be allowed to grow naturally. In present century children are perceived as investment for secure, safe, welfare, secular, just, productive and peaceful society. Resultantly well-being and protection of children is one of the foremost global concerns. Children who not reach their potential, who are unable to contribute effectively to society, and who do not take their place as a productive adults diminish the power of society’s future. Number of empirical studies conducted till now have proved that violence against children causes several developmental issues among children; accelerate suicidal tendency, stress, anxiety, anti-social behaviour, alcoholism, affects productivity and quality human capital development. So, if we want a better tomorrow, we must ensure healthy physical, mental, emotional, and social development of every child irrespective of gender, religion, caste, creed and other differences and protection from any sort of violence. There are myriad of provisions for protection and welfare of children in the country but still violence against children is a widespread phenomenon, this fact call for consistent and continuous efforts both from government and public for protection and wellbeing of children. Sadly, Caritas India based on the report of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 2015, revealed that North-Eastern India is witnessing rampant growth in child abuse and child right violation cases and among the states of North-East, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh has hotspots of human trafficking or may say child trafficking. However, unless we gain understanding of the phenomenon of violence against children, any initiative initiated towards this direction would lose its credibility. On the backdrop of this view, the present study has been carried out to answer the following question:- Research Question What is the extent of violence against children in
Arunachal Pradesh with respect to their gender? Method Document review method has been used to collect the
required information to complete the present piece of work. The investigator
reviewed The Arunachal Times (English daily) published during last three years
(2018 – 2020) and gathered information regarding cases of violence against
children in the state as found reported in it. Main reason behind selecting
this English daily as a source of information is that out of existing thirteen
English dailies in the state namely The Echo of Arunachal, Arunachal Express,
The Arunachal Times, Arunachal Front, The Dawnlit Post, Independent Review, The
Arunachal Pioneer, Eastern Sentinel, The Arunachal Age, The Arunachal
Chronicle, Arunachal Observer and The Sentinel, The Arunachal Times is the most
preferred and read English daily in the state. Before examination of gender
difference in the extent of violence against children, extent and types of
violence faced by the children was a felt perquisite by the investigator.
Therefore, first the extent and types of violence faced by the children have
been worked out and after that gender difference was analysed. Types of violence against children Table – 1: Showing the types of
Violence against Children
The table – 1 reflects that in the year 2018, out of
14 cases of violence against children in the state 6 were of child
trafficking-cum-child labour, 3 cases were of rape, 2 were of bonded labour,
another 1 was of rape-cum-murder and 1 more was of abduction-cum-rape. It is
important to mention here that out of 3 cases of rape, 1 was of sodomy. In the
year 2019, out of 11 cases of violence against children 3 were of
abduction-cum-physical assault-cum-psychological violence, 2 were of display of
obscene material-cum-molestation, 2 were of abandon, 1 was of rape-cum-murder,
1 was of physical assault, 1 was of molestation, and 1 was of abduction. In the
year 2020, out of 10 cases of violence against children 4 were of rape, 2 were
of molestation-cum- physical assault, 1 was of abduction-cum-rape, 1 was of
abduction-cum-physical assault-cum-rape, 1 was of physical assault and 1 was of
physical assault-cum-murder. Table-2: Showing extent of
violence faced by male and female children.
The table – 2 reveals that in 2018 out of 14 cases of
violence against children 6 cases were found reported committed against male
children and 8 against female children. In the year 2019, out of 11 cases of
violence against children 5 cases were found reported committed against male
children and 6 were found committed against female children. In the year 2020,
out of 10 cases of violence against children 1 case was found committed against
a male child and 9 cases were found reported committed against female children. Findings 1. Types
of violence found committed against children in the state are rape, murder,
abduction, physical assault, molestation, display of obscene material,
psychological violence, abandon, bonded labour, child trafficking and child
labour. Further, out of various types of crime committed against children cases
of rape have been found higher than other types of violence. 2. Comparative analysis of the number of male and female victims revealed that number of female victims is higher than the male victims. |
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| Conclusion | The present study showed that all types of violence such as physical, sexual, psychological, child trafficking, child labour, murder and abandonment have been found reported as committed against children in the state. However, cases of rape have been found higher than any other types of violence against children during the past three consecutive years. It is further observed that In case of extent of violence against children with respect to their gender, the study showed that during the past three consecutive years in comparison to male, higher number of violence was found reported committed against female children. Another important thing observed is that in majority of cases the victim child had experienced more than one type of violence. Apparently, the state has witnessed declined number of cases of violence against children during the past three years but still this would be unwise to consider it conclusive because despite of the provision of civil law majority of people in the state leans on customary law to settle individual as well as community issues irrespective of its severity. Consequently many cases of violence against children go unreported and do not come into limelight. As the present study is based only on the cases of violence against children as reported in The Arunachal Times, which is an English daily newspaper; therefore, it is suggested that further in-depth research is needed to verify the findings of this study. However, the investigator believed the budding researchers interested to explore the concerned area in the days-to-come would find this study as a guide. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Acknowledgement | Present work is a part of major research project entitled “Status of Violence against Children in Arunachal Pradesh” sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi. The project was awarded through the grant no. F.N0.02/101/ST/2019-20/MJ/RP. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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3. Deb, S. & Modak, S. (2010). Prevalence of Violence against Children in Families in Tripura and its relationship with Socio-economic Factors. Journal of Injury and Violence Research, 2 (1), 5-8. Available from doi:10.5249/jivr.v2i1.3. [26 January 2021]
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