Research Critique 2
Prevent Protect Provide
On the 12th day of January 2018, an unnamed eight-year-old girl was unaware that this was going to be her last stroll as a child. Forced to engage in adult activities, that she has not been exposed to. The young girl was abducted while grazing her horses and was about to endure something that no child should have to face. The child would never leave her horses to wander, according to her father, so when the horses returned without the girl he was concerned and worried. He made the decision to take a group from the community to look for the young girl throughout with his daughter nowhere to be found. It was also stated in the article (Gettleman, 2018) that when he arrived at the temple the guardian informed him that she was being looked after and she was fine. As referenced by Gettleman (2018 ) the young girl was targeted as a mean to send a message to the community, to vacate the region.
The unnamed child was taken to a Hindu temple where she was drugged and held captive for 3-5 days. From the investigation, it was confirmed that she was repeatedly raped during her captivity, by eight men. Once the young men were finished using her, she was strangled to death, and thrown away like a piece of trash in the forest of an isolated Himalayan district, where her body was later found. Before the girls’ dress was remanded to the proper authorities, there were corrupt officials that tried to get rid of the evidence. They were unsuccessful due to DNA evidence as well as the eight men confessed (Gettleman, 2018). An outrage to aflame when Hindu activists attempted to stall investigators from filing charges, including high-level officials. J. Devika termed this as weaponizing the Hindu faith.
In relation to global health, women and children continued to be marginalized. The community is supposed to be a source of protection yet it can also be a site for violence. Violence against women and children continue to occur everywhere with some cultures allowing the violence because it is rooted in the culture (UN, 2006). It is happening in every society, country and a social group was provided from findings in a study conducted by the secretary-general in 2003 in response to the UN request to conduct a study on violence against children. Relatedly a study conducted by Deb, S., and Modak, S. (2010) showed that at least 20 percent of children between the ages of 14-19 in India reported experiencing physical, psychological, and sexual abuse deeply rooted. It is the severe cases that we here about. Mass media can normalize the violence which allows for the little acts of violence to go unnoticed. These studies provide a means to provide a detailed illustration of the range of violence against children. It can also provide a clear insight of the devastating effects to the health and well being of the victimized children.
Similarly in a study conducted by David Finkelhor, who is the director of crimes against children research center stated that children between the ages of 7 through 13 are most vulnerable to sexual abuse. Finkelhor has been studying the problems of child victimization and maltreatment. With consideration the health and well being of the children they cannot wait to be protected. Steps have been taken to prevent these crimes from being committed, as it is shown in the articles it’s not enough. The people of New Delhi assumed that once awareness was made about the 23- year-old victim of gang rape, the violence would reduce, yet the only thing that lowered was the age of the victims. Finkelhor stated that the children and youth deserve more attention. There needs to be a specialized field of study including along with criminology, termed developmental victimology (2007). Which is intended to promote interest in the broad range of victimization children suffer (Finkelhor, 2007).
The National Center for Victims of a Crime expressed the difficulties in determining child abuse because it is often not reported. In India, the cabinet passed an executive order that the death penalty will be used as a form of punishment for rapists of children under the age of 12, once approved by Parliament it will be implemented. Hate crimes against the lower caste system are high while convictions are low, with a divide among religious, political and ethnic lines. Many no matter what religion is sickened by the criminal transgression and divide. The life of a child was taken senselessly. The Children Rights of a Child was ratified by nearly every country in 1989 by the UN protecting against sexual violence and others acts of acts of violence. Yet many are not aware of their rights and find it difficult to discuss.
This was a story that touched my heart. I had to put myself in the shoes of the parents. I myself have nieces and a nephew that I care for as my own. Along with three brothers and a sister, where our number one priority is the safety of the children. To read that some members of the community believed that a parent would intentionally use their child as a ploy to separate from India drew many concerns. There is no way to begin to comprehend how anyone can place harm towards the innocent. It was very difficult to understand how some members of the community showed little sympathy or remorse for the family. The parents in fear of the retaliation had to leave and were not able to bury their daughter and had to take her with them.
With an increase of victimization on children and continued sexual assault, communities need to organize and start educating children to be aware of dangerous situations stated Finkelhor. With people like cartoonist B. Hari Venkataramana providing free classes to help children understand the difference between good and bad touch (The Hindu, 2018), and a book called World Report on Violence against Children, some materials have been prepared specially for children (UN, 2006). These are examples of how the knowledge can be passed to help reduce the violence.
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Reference
Deb, S., & Modak, S. (2010). Prevalence of violence against children in families in Tripura and its relationship with socio-economic factors. Journal of Injury and Violence Research, 2(1), 5-18. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.fiu.edu/10.5249/jivr.v2i1.31
Gettleman, J. (2018). Where 8-Year-Old Was Raped and Killed, Hindus Rally Around Suspects. Saurabh Das for The New York Times
Sharma, R. R., Pardasani, R., & Nandram, S. (2014). The problem of rape in India: A multi-dimensional analysis. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 7(3), 362-379. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.fiu.edu/docview/1536528027?accountid=10901
