Plight of the girl child

Instead of penalising the culprit, we put the victim under scrutiny, at the cost of her physical & intellectual growth

The discourse on child sexual abuse takes a fresh, lurid turn when the plight of the female child is discussed. The most recent perpetration occurred in the Islampura area of Lahore on November 17, when a four-year-old girl was gang-raped by her school staff. This gruesome incident goes to highlight the sufferings of the girl child. According to a recent report by a child rights NGO, sexual abuse against the girl child far surpasses that against the male one, a fact which relegates the former as the more socially disadvantaged member of society. Treating this latest case from Lahore as just another instance of ‘child abuse’ is to both trivialise and simplify it. Abuses against the girl child need to be singled out from the set of ‘child abuse cases’ and argued in light of the distinct vulnerability bequeathed to the child on account of her gender at a time when our society has yet to come to terms with the idea that both males and females have the right to safe public space — which is free from harassment and threats of attacks on their bodies.

The Lahore incident does not just make for a gruesome news story. Instead of coming down hard against the culprits, such incidents make society put the onus of the girl child’s protection on her own tender shoulders. A culture of scruple and resignation is generated in which she is taught from a very young age to be cowered and to be constantly on guard. In the years when a child’s mind and spirit should be allowed to thrive freely, to engage in healthy after-school activities and socialise with boys and girls of her age, young girls in our culture are taught that anyone, anywhere, can hurt them. Instead of penalising the culprit, we put the victim under scrutiny, at the cost of her physical and intellectual growth. There is a need for this culture to change. In this regard, we can only hope that the perpetrators of the heinous crime committed in Lahore are brought to justice swiftly.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2014.

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