Child abuse cases settled outside court

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Udisa Islam
Published : 11:17, Jun 26, 2019 | Updated : 11:18, Jun 26, 2019

Representational imageMany young children between the ages of 7-12 work in shops, garages, stores in Dhaka and often they have to endure physical torture, withholding of daily meals and locking up in dark rooms.
However, news of such cruel treatment hardly reaches the police. To avoid legal complication, many guardians are compromising in exchange for a one-time financial package.
Assessing the situation from January till May 2019, Ain o Salish Kendra, said: “Within this time, 169 children were killed, cases were lodged on 65 instances. Of the killed, 33 are within the ages 7 and 12 while 31 are below 6. During the same time, there have been 543 cases of violence against children with 365 cases.
In such a situation, International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is being observed on Wednesday (Jun 26) by all UN member states.
Former executive director of Ain o Salish Kendra and human rights worker, Nur Khan, said: “We have an aversion towards legal cases; in most cases involving abuse of children, guardians reach an understanding with the perpetrator outside the police station.”
On the other hand, police stations often discourage such cases because they want to hide human rights violation incidents in their area while the general people do not want to go to the police, he added.
Director of child rights governance and child protection, Abdullah Al Mamun, commented: “The settlement of child abuse cases outside court is not acceptable; the guardians and parents of children are mostly hesitant to go to the police in fear of added harassment.”
Many parents lose interest in legal process since they are lengthy.
Under pressure from influential people, incidents involving child torture are often resolved outside the legal framework, he observed and added: “To counter this, we need social awareness, increase in police cooperation and an overall attitude of sympathy towards children.”

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