Will Missing Children Get Their Due ?

For several reasons, on an average, 44,475 children, the most loveable, promising and innocent lot, are reported missing every year practically from all the States. According to the NCRB, while Maharastra leads this dubious tally at a yearly average of 13,881 in terms of ‘actually missing’, Delhi has been more successful when it comes to tracing the ‘reported’ children. Sensitization drives are launched time and again and the concerned machinery or shall we say, the earmarked authorities are put on high alert, each time a need arises. Despite multi-pronged action by the Government and the NGO’s, most of them fall in wrong and scrupulous hands in the prosperous pockets, for purposes, such as, prostitution, organ donations, employment, and many nefarious activities.

Pain and Pinch

 2. The Parents, close relatives and the guardians of such unfortunate off springs can only feel as to where it pinches and how. Most of the times, it is a long, arduous, depressing and impatient wait. Sometimes, location or identification is possible sooner than expected, but due to monetary considerations, parents, especially from poverty ridden pockets of Eastern India and Nepal ,refrain from pursuing. Blame, never the less comes on the State and the Central agencies or the Departments. All said and done, the shock from disappearance and loss of a child can never be mild. Needless to say, due to them, a number of legal and illegal
professions and industries thrive, such as, Bidi & Fire Cracker, flesh trade, trades or businesses needing small nimble fingers, restaurants, bars, hotels and what not.

Role of Hindi Film Industry  

3. The Hindi film industry has not only taken a cue but has also
highlighted this unfortunate phenomenon, apart from minting money from
such quasi-social themes. Owing to the feudal nature of our Social system, most of us do not even realize if there was some violation somewhere, till the same is pointed out, or till a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by an
"Interested Person" leads to some Court order or ruling or a working
mechanism for a regular if not sustained monitoring, tracing and
rehabilitation.

National Policy for Children, 1974

4. Having realized the gravity and enormity of the situation, a National
Policy for Children (NPC) was adopted way back in 1974.Same described
the children as a supremely important asset. It makes the State
responsible to provide the basic services to them before and after
birth, as also during their growing years and different
stages of development. Later, the Supreme Court issued detailed
Guidelines on 14/11/2002 in Writ Petition No. 610 of 1996 (Horilal
vs. Commissioner of Police, Delhi).It led to setting up of a Special Cell on the subject in the CBI and constitution of a High Powered Committee in the National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) in 2007.

Positive Interventions by NHRC

5. The NHRC, apart from taking up the crucial issues relating to the Child and Bonded Labour and the Juveniles from time to time,   also has issued a series of Guidelines concerning the Missing Persons Desks in all the Police
Stations, inspection of the places employing children by the District
administration, mandatory reporting within 24 hours to the National
Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), active
involvement of the Punchayat Raj bodies, Municipalities, Resident
Welfare Associations and the NGO's, focussed reporting by the
media, regular sharing of information by the States etc. The manner in which NHRC took up the issue of young children missing from Nithari in Noida, had a deep impact all over and appropriate recommendations were made to all the States, National Commissions for Women, NCPCR and Department of Women & Child Development, Govt. of India. , including giving adequate relief to the victims.

Issue Deserves More Attention

6. Despite periodic meetings, conferences and reviews at the State and
national levels, the issue of missing children continues to be grave. In
view of the fact that it is also very much a human rights issue, it
should be considered so by all the stake holders-Government at all the
levels, NGO's or the society at large. The number of children engaged as
domestic help and bonded/child labour, after all, is mind boggling, while
the conviction rate, on the contrary, in the identified cases is not
even 1%.It is a scenario, the developed Civil Society set up of a
highly conscious country, such as, India should be ashamed of.

7.  It has been felt that simply reporting of the cases by the NCRB, SCRB or other authorized reporting ,compiling and analyzing organisations / institutes is not enough. Affected children have to be
traced, guided, trained, educated and then rehabilitated. There is also an
immediate need to pinpoint the runaway children, those found
abandoned, neglected children and the vulnerable category, often found
roaming recklessly, if not aimlessly, at the fairs, exhibitions, traffic junctions, bus stands and railway stations. During the April 2015 massive Earthquake in Nepal, Bihar, North Bengal, UP and some other parts of Eastern India, but for alert action on the part of authorities, many children and vulnerable women would have been trafficked under the garb of  rescue and relief. As we may know, the last named group, as such, invariably lands up in illegal businesses and factories, Dhabas and brothels.

Nobel Peace Prize, 2014 – Contributions of Satyarthi and Malala

8. Against this depressing backdrop, it was a silver lining, as well as, a red letter day that Sri Kailash Satyarthi,(KS) Indian  Child activist, instrumental in the rescue of over 80,000 children from the forced labour and trafficking and Ms. Malala Yousafzai, his Pakistani teen counterpart, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014. K.S., an Electrical Engineer, is running an NGO-‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ since 1980. Malala, the youngest ever person to get the Award, survived a devastating Taliban attack. She has been rightly advocating education for the girl child, side by side, pursuing her own school studies in Birmingham in UK, under strenuous, if not compelling circumstances.

Recent Decisions & Emerging Scenario

9. On the national front, a number of positive developments seem to have taken place and some more are also in the offing. Recently, following wide-spread protests over the gruesome gang rape & murder of Nirbhaya and a sustained debate lasting more than two years involving the largest number of social rights bodies ever, the Lok Sabha passed the much needed amendments in the Juvenile Justice Act,2000 to allow among other things, 16-18 year old accused of heinous crimes to be tried as adults under the Indian Penal Code. As per Delhi Police, five to six juveniles from the age-group of 14 to 17 years commit various offences every day which should normally come under the ambit of the I.P.C. The prime ‘juvenile’ accused of the Nirbhaya episode and once a missing child, too has been found medically and legally covered under this category.

While the majority opinion favours the Amendments, the critics feel that the opportunity of reform and repentance would thus be lost. As an alternative, the pattern being followed in the USA (jurisdiction of Juvenile Courts being transferred to Adult Courts) or the U.K.(Designated Youth Courts deciding and  giving community-oriented orders) has been suggested by the Director of Centre For Social Research, New Delhi.

10.  Another notable feather has been the recent decision for setting up a separate and dedicated Portal called “Khoya-Paya” at the national level for the Missing Children by the Union Minister for Women & Child Development.

 

Coinciding with the completion of one year in office by the present Union Government, as also close on the heels of  the successful  and innovative Operation Milap (re-uniting missing children with their respective families) of the Delhi Police, now fast picking up’ Beti Bachao,Beti Padhao Abhiyan’,’Indradhanush Mission’ etc., it is expected that we would drift positively from an era of  'routine service' to serious reporting, tracing and have more focussed action for the neglected and the disadvantaged sections. It may be also worthwhile ,at the same time, to note that sustained awareness and alert behaviour on the part of the NGO's,be they Child Right organisations or the Public Representative
Bodies, to supplement and support Governmental initiatives at the
cutting edges, ,would be also very  much desirable. 

Crucial Role of Education and Training 

11. Reverting to the two Nobel Prize winners, the Jury of the Norwegian
Peace Prize Committee had felt that "the Prize was awarded to both for
their struggle against the suppression of the children and young people
and for the right of all children to education". In addition, the
Committee was of the opinion that Satyarthi had maintained the
tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and had headed various forms of peaceful
protests. Satyarthi, on his part, reacted positively by saying that the global recognition would encourage him into further action to try and eliminate child slavery.

12. It is a matter of strange coincidence but pride that two luminaries
from the Indian Sub-continent were chosen for a common prize at a time,
when the ties between the two neighbours had touched a low
point. Rather, intermittent firing from across the border has become a
regular feature, directly hitting the harmless children and the senior
citizens.

13. It may be equally perplexing to note that Malala, who was nominated for
the same prize in 2013, when her wounds were still fresh and thereby,
she was not in a position to muster enough courage and conviction to
address a world gathering, has not done anything substantial in one year
,yet her claim to fame in 2014 became much more stronger.

14. Thirdly, since the Prize was conferred jointly, it would be unfair to
equate Satyarthi's long struggle in his field to the "beginning" just
made by the ‘youngster’. There are many other unsung and unreported young heroes and and heroins in both the countries and elsewhere. But, it appears, idea is, neither to ignore Malala’s trauma nor belittle her acts of bravery, subsequent to the lethal attack on her head and shoulder. It goes to her credit as also luck that she could survive in a situation, wherein, the phrases-’ mercy’ and ‘compassion’ are not supposed to be heard .Do justice in the name of Jehad, kill innocent people for the tiny issues, such is the slogan of the self-proclaimed ‘agents’ of God.

15. But for the anonymous diary in the form of a blog published between January and March 2009 on the BBC Urdu, this little girl would not have attracted any attention. She is supposed to have indicated how the girls were made to struggle for getting education in the Taliban-controlled Swat valley. She would speak her mind freely and fearlessly.

16. To sum up, the suffering of the children in general and those who
languish in bondage in the brick -kilns, stone kilns, roadside eataries, cottage industries, brothels as also the “decent families", is likely to be better heard and responded to, with the announcement of 2014 Nobel Prize and the recent firm decisions of the Central and some of the State Governments and State Committees. We may, therefore, be inclined to agree with Satyarthi when he says “it is a curse on the face of the humankind that the children are born in such a state of tension and violence. When will the estimated 16 Crore children get liberated, we need to ask ourselves. It is certainly a blot on the country, if not, on the humanity, as such”.

17. Talking of the facts and figures, it is after a long gap of 35 years
that an Indian, after Mother Teresa has been chosen for his work not
exactly for peace but for contribution against a sustained activity
that has a propensity to disturb peace. Yet, the majority DO NOT bother
as long as, they can't  avail of  the comforts and pleasures of life at the
cost of innocent, little children.