Ceylon Today Editorial

MADRAS SINGS RANJAN’S HYMN 

Tuesday 27th October 2015

 
An order delivered by a Madras High Court calling upon the Central Government of India to improve laws to deal with criminals who indulge in child sex abuse to castrate the criminals is an eye opener to Sri Lanka where child sex abuse, rape and murder is rampant. Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake proposed the same punishment for child sex offenders when he spoke in Parliament recently on a Private Member's Motion moved on his behalf by Hirunika Premachandra. Some others who spoke backed Ranjan's stand, while others opposed the implementation of the death sentence for child sex offenders found guilty by a Court of Law.

As much as some of our law enforcement officers and legislators have pointed out, the Madras High Court too had informed New Delhi on the need to amend the present laws to strictly deal with child sex offenders. An Indian daily reported yesterday that the Madras High Court has held that present laws as being ineffective to deal with such criminals, while stressing that the Indian Judiciary could not afford to keep its arms folded to be a mere spectator considering the recent incidents of child sex abuse, gang rape and murder across the country. In Sri Lanka, our children and women experience the same fate across the country at the hands of child sex offenders and rapists.

It is appropriate to read the judgment of the Madras High Court which also suggests that castration may look barbaric, but stresses that barbaric criminals needed punishments of a barbaric nature. Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake too expressed such sentiments in the Sri Lankan Parliament well ahead of the Madras High Court Judgment. He said if the death penalty appeared too much as some of his colleagues preached aspects of the Doctrine of Buddhism, the government should consider castrating child sex offenders. As in India, some bodies here who preach under the banner of human rights violations first sympathize with the victims and later support the criminals when people scream to hang the child sex offenders. The human rights of the victims are fast forgotten by these activists who hide behind the human rights violation banner.

In Sri Lanka, the majority of the child population below the age of 12 is totally ignorant to what is called sex. There are various factors that lead them to fall victims of child sex abuse. New laws are urgently needed to combat the growing menace of child sex abuse. In addition, parental control and care over children should be a top priority in a child's agenda. Educative material on the dangers posed by child abuse should be included as a social subject at school as the menace has reached dangerous proportions. The Judicial system in the country should also be updated to combat this crime. For that, existing laws must be amended to mete out life imprisonment if the governments in office do not wish to hang the offenders.

Another menace for the increase of sex desires among students and children is the freely available pornography on the internet. Such is viewed by teens and tried on innocent children less than twelve years. The provisions of the Obscene Publications Act had not been amended to meet the increasing rates in that respect. This Act does not have teeth to deal with the current crises with regard to child porn and obscene material. However, the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) enjoys the exclusive right to crackdown on child porn by virtue of a Convention signed by the Sri Lankan Government on 8 May 2002 through which the NCPA was recognized as the Central Agency for the Protection of Children. The Convention ratified the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitute and Child Pornography. Accordingly, the NCPA installed its own 'Cyber Watch Unit' to monitor websites to move forward to curb the menace of child porn. On the contrary viewing of porn by teenagers on internet had increased and nothing is known of that 'Cyber Watch Unit'.

In the backdrop of increased child sex abuse, rape and murder despite certain organs being set up to curb the menace, the only solution lies in the introduction of effective laws by amending the existing legislation. When Vithya Sivaloganathan was brutally gang raped and murdered on her way to school in Punguduthivu, the government promised to set up a 'Special Court' in the North to try and punish the offenders early. Five months have lapsed and no action had been taken to pursue the establishment of that 'Special Court'. Thereafter, many cases of child rape and murder were reported from other parts of the country including that of the five-year-old girl Seya. What is urgently needed is to speed up the hearing of those cases and punish the offenders. Like the High Court of Madras, the Sri Lankan Judiciary should also call upon the government to amend laws at least to castrate child sex offenders found guilty under the law if the State is not prepared to hang the offenders.