Violence against children
A report published in this daily revealed that 145 children have been raped in the first three months of this year, and in the first couple of months, 50 children were killed. This points to a disturbing rise of violence and a breakdown of moral values. Given the societal taboo that exists around exposing rape and molestation, there is a strong possibility that a lot of such cases have gone unreported.
Such acts of violence leave children traumatised for life and affect their families as well. They rarely get legal and emotional support, especially in cases where the victim comes from a lower socioeconomic background. There are cases we have never heard of because the families have settled out of court due to societal and/or financial pressure.
We need to make the laws more child-friendly, if exemplary punishment is to be meted out in a short time span so that perpetrators will think twice before committing such heinous crimes.
Also, the procedures of investigation need to be reviewed more closely. Assessing circumstantial evidence and conducting DNA testing are essential in order to bring the perpetrator under the purview of law.
Zubair Khaled Huq
Dhaka
