NEWS reports on Thursday said that nowadays the occurrence of child killings represented a new element of criminality, shocking the nation again by the scale of barbarity on the innocent victims. And what is noticeable is that killing of children has hit a record of a total of 1,085 children murdered in different parts of the country over the last four years. This abysmal rate of child killing has raised questions about what our law enforcers are doing to give safety to the people, particularly to the children.
It is undeniable in the current socio-political perspective that a decay of social values has become widespread in the society which has, perhaps, become the vital cause of these killings of children. So, barbarism presents the peculiar sorts of child murders. What is shameful is that now wrong-doers are inserting the nozzle of a high-pressure air pump into the rectum of teen-aged boys to kill them. It appears that cruelty has grasped the entire society.
Reports said that of the killings of 1085 children over the last four years, 292 were killed in 2015, 366 in 2014, 218 in 2013 and 209 in 2012. Besides, 152 children were murdered in the first three months of the current year. Following this progression, the total number of killings will be over 600 in the end of the year, which is a matter of great regret. Speakers disclosed the above figures of child killing at a seminar organized by Action for Social Development held at YWCA auditorium on Wednesday in the city as reported in The New Nation. Pointedly, we have the Child Protection Act that says to arrest and award exemplary punishment of the perpetrators. Due to lack of law enforcers’ dutiful effort, this act is not being implemented properly. But no sooner had the cries of victims’ families calmed down, the tragedy got lost as new killings surfaced again.
There may be many reasons for cruelty against children but what cannot be avoided is that it has become more frequent and more cruel in our society at large. Beginning from politics, there is cruelty everywhere. The cruelty at national level is making life insecure for everybody. Our police is affected by violence as because they are being politically abused. But child cruelty cannot be stopped only by police action. Cruelty against children is too inhuman a crime.
It cannot be denied that the prevailing fear of life has become a constant worry.
Our leadership lacks experience and understanding as to how to build and handle human affairs rightly to live together peacefully and safely. Cruelty against children cannot be ended in isolation.
