Monabendra Mondol SLRTC =================== About Mr. Mondol: Well known lawyer and a teacher at Department of Human Rights in University of Kolkata. National Coordinator and Secretary of ATSEC. ATSEC has 22 chapters, 500 associated NGOs. Recent chapters include Pakistan and Afghanistan. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a complicated topic covering gender, law and children at risk. Children at risk - do we have a definition for children at risk? We have child labor in different vocations, prostitution etc. Whatever be the figures, even if a single child is abused/broughts into prostitution, they are children at risk. Consent from less than 18 year olds is no consent. There are also no less than 60-70 types of abuse. I will not be going into those types today. we have to first understand what we mean by law. There are different definitions of law. The best definition is law is the will of the community which has been approved the head of the state - irrespective of the nature of the state. One source of law is the constitution. Anything that is against the constitution is automatically void/illegal. The second source is our legislature (state or central). They make law that is applicable within the state boundaries. The third source is the anglo-saxon regime. We have inherited the law from the British and we are following it. In this system, when the judge gives the judgment, then it becomes a (case) law and has to be followed unless it is overturned by the court itself. "No child in india is an illegal child". A number of laws had to be changed by this simple statement. The relationship between father and mother may be illegal. For a child to be born there is a mother and father. The state may not solemnize the relationship itself. If it is proven that a man is a father/mother, then all the inheritance laws apply. In another case, jail is not a safe place for children. West Bengal had the highest number of children in the jails. Overnight things changed and a number of homes were opened. The customs of the individual community are valid unless voided by the law. It is good to remember these. Law changes according to the need to the time, demand of the society. concerns of the groups. Atleast when children are involved, they are not expected to demand change. When you talk about gender equity, we should look at it from the social and legal perspective. Article 14 of the constitution, all are equal under the eyes of the law, and all get equal protection. Article 24 says "state shall see that no child is engaged in the any hazardous job". It is blatantly violated. When you shout for changes with respect of the law regarding the children, the government will say they have a file and promulgate the legistation. But have they brought any changes to the children or families? You are most experienced because you are working at the grass roots. You wouldnt have been required there if law was sufficient. When Nehru was placing the dowry prohibition law in 1961, law can give backup support, a social movement is necessary to bring the expected change. unless it done, the law will adorn the chambers but will not get the necessary changes. Those kinds of changes could be brought by the changemakers. Ramamohan Roy for Sati, Vidyasagar for widow remarriage - every social legislation has a background of its own. When the law is enacted, why was it enacted? It was expected to change the situation. For example, law prohibiting child marriage was enacted after an incident in Kolkata where a child died on the first night. Parents gave girl children in marriage before puberty to whoever. Otherwise they get ostracised. These girls are married to 30-35 olds. It is natural that the man will die early. Woman would have to perform Sati. The laws regarding widow remarriage have been made and things have changed since then. Now when you look at a child, a boy is "born" and girl child is "given birth". How? even today in most families, when a boy is born, there is a lot of joy. If a girl is born, there may be exceptions but the situation is not the same. How joyously do we welcome the girl child? Have we been able to change the situation? Female infranticide statistics are high. Consider nutrition. The National Womens Policy Placed emphasis on the nutrition at every stage of the life and intra-household difference in the nutrition. This is just one item of gender discrimination. Have we been able to change this one item? We can say we are starting programs including SSA, ICDS, etc. Recent survey showed that people gave fish piece to the boy (450 out of 500, 40 said they will divide, 11 to the girl). That is the state of affairs. When we talk gender equity in law, we do not take this into consideration. Gender discrimination starts at the very beginning of the life. A girl child is controlled, dominated, and not allowed to grow with independence. This discrimination cannot be removed by the law itself. They are many enactments that touch the children. Huge sections that deal with children. These are about the normal children. Children at risk (trafficked, prostitute, handicapped, disabled, street) - look at their situation. What is their security? We cannot imagine the the type of harassment that each of the groups witness. The trust and faith have to be imbibed in the police force/ implementors of the law so that common people can approach them. Can a child go to a police statation where the child can go and ask for help? Everything in the law is not bad. It can give enormous support to the child if we know how to apply it properly. If you look at Article 39A (legal aid etc.) the state shall see that no person is denied of the judicial justice because of the economic reasons, crores of rupees are being spent. Thousands of cases have gone to them. There are no statistics on the results. We have told the government accountable. Young lawyers are appointed who are not heard. We need to pay something to good lawyers to win atleast one case. These young lawyers charge even transport cost to the clients (when they were supposed to work for free). How can we get rid of this? There are good words in 39(E). How can one protect one from moral abondements when they are subjected to problems inside and outside. Rescued girls are kept in presence of the traffickers. The girls cannot talk due to fear. The court does not take note of who is taking control of the girl (guardianship). Article 16E requires verification but never done. There are laws - Article 14E on equality. Article 15A is slightly tilted towards women. The laws are on paper to protect the women. The Status of Women Report 1974 and the National Prospectus for Women 1986 are wonderful documents. Consider maternity act 1956. The 1974 reports says that 16% of women are in the organized sector and 86% of the women are not. The political parties are not interested. No trade union was interested in organizing women because they cannot get money for the union leaders. Few women led the unions. The only woman trade union leader was the INTUC president. Now in 1986, the 16% was reduced to 14% in the organized sector. In the case of domestic work, would a woman be allowed to go on a three month leave and produce a healthy child? Do we ever do that? We ask for subsitute and pay her instead of you. No law exists for children at risk. Only when something bad happens, law kicks in. How many times has it happened that the police has gone to protect? Some police officers are good. There are good magistrates. We have to look for them, find who can help and share those things with the people. There are about 20-25000 children missing each year. PM Nair, IG had written an article in the police journal on this topic several years back. Now the number is higher but the files are not maintained. When we say children at risk, there are many different forms of risk - rape, abuse etc. The legal answers are different for each but there are also specific acts. We can discuss specific cases if you have any. What I suggest is that when you have community meetings, share with them that the girl child needed to the cared for equally. We have train/develop attitudes from young age. When a woman is burned for dowry, you cannot get angry with the husband. He has grown like that. What gender equity for street children? They dont even have privacy. Prepare night shelters for children. We have to develop a system. NGOs are not the alternative to government. It is the state's responsibility. The law is the guardian of the children in this country.