Aleeha Imran’s ordeal highlights our culture of violence
On January 16, Aleeha Imran, a student of the Scarsdale American International School in Lahore, was beaten mercilessly by four other girls in her school. One of them sat on Aleeha, punching her, while another kicked her all over her body, including her face. The attack lasted about 40 minutes and at the end the child had to be hospitalised.
The violence was stunning, not only in the physical aspect of it, but also its psychological aspect. It was chilling to see that the girls who were beating up the eighth-grader Aleeha had not an iota of restraint when it came to crossing all lines, and how relentlessly they continued to assault their victim. Worst perhaps was the fact that the entire episode was being filmed by a male student — or perhaps more students— and all the while those filming the attack laughed while it took place. The entire episode happened in broad daylight in front of several witnesses, but not a single person rushed to help the girl, instead they enjoyed the spectacle.
The case has left several unanswered questions and many more disturbing thoughts for us to chew over. Where is the youth of the country headed, people ask. After the video circulated online, most members of society have been upset to see the level of violence exhibited by young people.
According to Aleeha’s father Imran Younus, even while his daughter was in hospital, his family was facing threats from the parents of the accused girls.
“Instead of asking about her condition, and lending some sympathy to our child,” says Younus, “we were getting intimidating calls threatening us not to leave the house and not to make any complaints.
A regrettable takeaway from this episode is how the tendency to violence among the youth is learned behaviour. “The parents of these children are exactly the same as they are,” the victim’s father points out.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), one of Aleeha’s fellow students was involved in bad habits — drugs and bad company. At some point, Aleeha resisted the student’s attempts to include her, and even complained about her doing drugs in school. So the student, her sister and two other girls attacked Aleeha, dragged her to the cafeteria in the basement of the school and badly beat her up .
Lahore-based child rights activist Nabila Feroze Bhatti puts the blame squarely on society’s shoulders, and says the violence in children comes from the violence prevalent in society.
“The elements of violence and abuse in our society, as a whole, have risen,” Bhatti says. “This includes our political training. We see our political heroes being rude to each other, being violent and disrespectful. This is the lesson being imparted to our children as well. Parents should also be blamed [for not teaching their children right from wrong] but overall it is the role of society. There is too much disrespect for each other.”
She adds that, in this particular case, a special committee should be formed to investigate the issue — but at the same time, the committee members must be aware of the Juvenile Justice Act, as well as the rights of a child as compared to hardcore criminals.
“Whatever the case is, there are minors on both sides and we must ensure that they are treated as minors,” says Bhatti.
The child rights activist also points out that since the incident took place in school premises, the school administration should be held accountable. “We are hearing things like there were drugs and weapons being brought into school,” she says. “How was the school unaware of this happening? Schools should have a child protection and safeguarding policy and this must be checked by the government from time to time. In fact, the Punjab Child Protection Policy, which has been hanging in limbo since some time, must now be implemented.”
Meanwhile, the Head of the Sociology Department in Forman Christian College (FCC) says that the recent bullying incident is the result of a whole host of factors at play and cannot be limited to any one reason.
“It is a combination of factors from emotional insecurity and possibly mental health issues of the bullies, family negligence or family socialisation which encourages deviance, lack of administrative control in schools, and personality and peer factors related to assuming control, gaining attention and asserting power,” says Associate Professor Sara Rizvi Jafree.
“Such incidents are mainly on the rise because of lack of sufficient mental health services, especially at an early age, lack of preventive healthcare at primary level and the screening for mental and emotional health in youth,” she adds. “There is also no concept of a social policy or integrating of families through family counselling. Lastly, there is little administrative control in educational institutes.”
Yet for all the psychological analysis that is given by experts, most parents have not been very sympathetic towards the perpetrators.
“These girls are ostensibly spoilt, there is just no two ways about it!” exclaims Nadia, a mother of two girls who study in a private school. “I cannot fathom such parenting where both of the sisters are such bullies. It only goes to show the culture at home.”
Nadia is referring to the two sisters who together bashed up Aleeha.
Mohsin Raza is of a similar opinion. A father of three, he says such violence has nothing to do with socio-economic class.
“Rich or poor, the problem is not that. The point is parenting itself has gone down. There are no standards anymore. People allow their children to do everything these days and sadly this is across all social strata. Whether it is being glued to video games, or being allowed to be excessively social without any parental monitoring,” he says. “The fact of the matter is the more time you spend with your child, and build them a strong foundation, the better the future of the child is.”
However, the experience of Aleeha’s father highlights how wealth and power influence our justice seeking system. He had to visit the police station several times simply to lodge an FIR against the girls who physically assaulted his daughter.
“I had to meet a deputy inspector general [DIG]-level police officer to tell him that the police were not filing an FIR,” he said in an interview to the media. “I was being pressurised by the police to compromise with the families of the accused because I was told they are influential and they will make my life hell.” In the same interview, Younis said the students were known to bring pistols and drugs in school.
“Outside the police station, they came in their BMW 7 Series, and their gunmen, and their fanfare…I said I won’t be the one who you will step on and move ahead. So don’t threaten me!”
The families of the accused did not hold back their threats to Younis either. “They have no humanity, neither the children nor their parents,” he said. “They have been threatening us, saying, ‘Dekho tumhara kya hashar hota hai’ [wait and see what we do to you].
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Child Rights (NCRC) directed the secretary to School Education Department to submit an inquiry report on the incident. Punjab Ombudsman (retired) Azam Suleman Khan has also sought a report from the district education authority in Lahore and the superintendent of police of Lahore Cantonment regarding departmental action over the viral video. The ombudsman has given directions that the education department and the police should devise a coordinated strategy for the prevention of drug abuse among teenagers.
On Thursday, January 26, the Lahore High Court (LHC) directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to restrain all television channels from airing the video. The direction came after the lawyer submitted that one of the accused was having her picture flashed from channel to newspaper without considering that she was a minor.
The video of the bullying incident has shaken members of society to re-evaluate where our children are headed. “The question to be asked is, where are the standards of education in this country?” asks a private school teacher, Sameena. “Is this what people are sending their children to school for?”
Xari Jalil is editor and co-founder of voicepk.net, a human rights news platform based in Lahore. She tweets @xarijalil. All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer.