How we failed a raped child

Protection of children from predatory paedophiles ought to be a priority, their detection, prosecution top the agenda.

On December 22, it will be 100 days since a five-year-old girl was raped and then dumped outside Sir Ganga Ram hospital in Lahore. Thus far, the police have been unable to identify or arrest any of the culprits of this appalling crime; and the misery of the child and her family is compounded day-on-day by a state that not only failed to protect her in the first place, but now walks away indifferent. The sexual abuse of children is reported almost as a daily occurrence in the media, indeed such is its frequency that it has become almost routine and commonplace to hear of children abused and often murdered as well. The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child had said on September 20 that the incident demonstrates “a complete failure of police and authorities” — and we can do no other than entirely agree with him.

At the time of the incident, there was much hustle bustle with the police arresting (the wrong) people and the Punjab chief minister forming a committee — a committee is always formed, because having a meeting is a tried and trusted way of ensuring that nothing gets done — and requiring daily updates. At present, our police’s investigative skills are limited to ‘rounding up’ suspects and forcing confessions out of them through ‘third degree’ methods, which often do not stand in court, with the suspect, even if he is the actual perpetrator, going scot free. What is needed is to equip the police with forensic and other scientific skills of crime detection instead of the government giving them deadlines and suspending a few when those deadlines are not met.

Today, the police have largely forgotten the incident; the child’s family finds itself alienated as its neighbours object to all the unwelcome attention. The protection of children from predatory paedophiles ought to be a priority and their detection and prosecution at the top of the agenda. The reality is that neither is considered important once cases fade from the headlines. One hundred days have now elapsed since an innocent child was brutalised and somebody somewhere knows who did it. Those 100 days are days of disgrace and the police, the state and society should hang their heads in shame.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2013.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.