Child Rights Abused: The “Great” Indian Democracy, the Judiciary and the Legislators
April 2, 2009
Child Rights Abused: The “Great” Indian Democracy, the Judiciary and the Legislators
Draconian Indian Laws:
Thousands of divorce cases languish for years in India courts awaiting “disposal”. Indian divorce laws suffer from gender bias. These irrationally skewed laws in favor of women are misused and are disintegrating families.
For example, see the draconian section 498(a): http://www.498a.org/ and the even more draconian section 113 A of the Evidence Act relating to suicides by women (see note below).
Courts dish out dates after dates for hearings before one actually takes place. Litigants too seek postponement for the flimsiest of reasons and are granted them.
Helpless Children and Violation of their Rights:
All this while children wait silently and helplessly for years to see one of their parents.
It’s an inhuman but common practice by one parent (who happens to have the custody during pendancy of the divorce case) to seek frequent and prolonged delays in the case. This is to deny the other parent any interaction with the child/children. A tool intended to mentally torture and harass the other parent. But this also results in the innocent children, in their tender years, developing several psychological disorders like:
Reactive Attachment Disorder (please see: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/915447-overview )
And is a fertile ground for a parent and particularly the children to add to the numbers of psychiatric patients and even future criminals.
Such practices are not restricted to the uneducated parent. It includes the highly qualified ones including doctors!
It also happens to be a serious Human Rights Violation under the Hague Convention on Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC see: http://untreaty.un.org/English/TreatyEvent2001/pdf/03e.pdf . Articles 7,8, 9,11 and 18, clearly lay down the right of the child to access, be cared for by both parents and prevent the alienation).
India acceded to this convention on the 11th December 1992 and is duty bound by an Act of the Indian Parliament, to stop this menace in the interest of the children. See: http://www.unhchr.ch/pdf/report.pdf and http://wcd.nic.in/The%20Gazette%20of%20India.pdf ).
We are now in 2009, 17 years later, the implementation nowhere in sight. A separate Government body was to be set up, called the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to oversee the implementation of the provisions. This is yet to see the light of the day! (Children do not contribute to vote banks, do they?)
The “Great” Indian Democracy and Legislators:
The less said about the Indian legislators, the better! Hardly do they attend parliament. Important bills are hardly debated. Little wonder that ill-conceived laws get passed. Except for a handful of politicians, there’s little presence or interest in nation building (remember the irresponsible statements by many of them during Mumbai’s 26/11 terror attacks and the outrage it sparked off?). India is shining?
And of-course, the great Indian Judiciary:
There are no real inhibiting reasons for the courts either from prioritizing parental access to the children or even promoting shared parenting. However, the “process of the court” is allowed to take its toll. Passively abetting this shameful and draconian practice (in-spite of the Supreme Court stating that the interests of the child should be kept in mind).
And while the children wait helplessly, the great Indian judiciary even finds time every year to go on long vacations (paid by the tax payers, of-course)! It is probably the only judiciary in the whole world which has the dubious distinction taking vacations twice a year, totaling almost two annually! This is excluding the personal leave entitled to, the regular holidays like Saturdays and Sundays, and the many other public holidays (which the Indian calendar is peppered with)!
Apparently children’s vacation time or developmental years with their parents is less important than court vacations.
With accountability deficit judicial, is there hope for justice?
Meanwhile the children continue to grow up like illegitimates!
Note on Section 113 A of the Evidence Act:
“Under Section 113 A of the Evidence Act, if a married woman commits suicide within 7 years, it would be presumed that her husband or his relatives had harassed her. In such circumstances if a case is filed against the husband and/or relatives for harassment, harassment need not be proved. On the other hand the husband and/or relatives would have to prove that they did not harass the married woman.
If the husband and/or relatives are unable to prove that they did not harass the woman, he/they would be liable for imprisonment of upto 10 years and would also be liable to pay fine.”
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