Child abuse in southern India province

Child abuse: Media urged to focus on loopholes in law
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MADURAI:

In order to check child abuse, media should focus mainly on the lacuna
in law which allows perpetrators to get away with this crime, said
Henri Tiphagne, executive director of People’s Watch, at a media
consultation on child abuse here on Wednesday.

Addressing
mediapersons, human rights and child welfare activists on the role and
responsibility of the media on the increasing violence against
children, Tiphagne quoting a national study on child abuse said that
among the 12,500 respondents, 53 percent were subjected to some form of
abuse, among whom 50 percent were aware of the identity of the
perpetrators of the abuse against them. However, 70 percent of the
child victims were not prepared to complain against the perpetrators.

Pointing
out to the increasing number of incidents of violence against children
of both sexes, despite the existence of over 150 legally recognised
child welfare and human rights organisations in the country, Tiphagne
attributed the impunity in law towards the perpetrators as the major
reason for this phenomenon.

In order to change this scenario,
the media should focus on this factor in their reports, Tiphagne said
and suggested that Tamil Nadu should enact an exclusive act to protect
child rights and set an example to other States.

Additional
Director-General of Press Information Bureau (PIB), Ganesan said that
the recurring violence against children despite the plethora of schemes
and laws to protect their rights clearly showed that the government
machinery could not handle the situation single handedly and wanted the
fourth estate to work in coordination with the non-governmental
organisations.