Hyderabad: While the number of instances of corporal punishment is increasing, most of them are not followed up with due to loopholes in the law.
Justice is being delayed with 80-90 per cent cases being shelved.
There is also no law in place that specifically deals with punishment for offenders involved in corporal punishment as relatives of the victims are forced to book cases under the existing Juvenile Justice Act or alternative IPC or CRPC cases.
Expressing outrage over the recent Kakinada incident, child rights experts have called for the implementation of Section 82 (1), of the new Juvenile Justice Bill 2015, which exclusively deals with corporal punishment.
“There are hardly any direct corporal punishment cases booked because we do not have anything to directly deal with corporal punishments. The State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has fought seven cases of the 30 it received so far. Apart from these, there are at least about a 100 cases pending in every district. Justice is delayed and most cases run for months. The Section under the new Bill must be implemented,” said Mamatha Raghuveer, member, SCPCR.
Read: Teachers let off due to lenient rules
As per the new Bill, whoever subjects a child to corporal punishment causing hurt and emotional distress, shall be liable for imprisonment extending to six months, or fine, or both, and will be immediately dismissed from service. Whereas, extending it to cases of grievous hurt or severe mental trauma, the punishment is rigorous imprisonment of three years and fine of Rs 50,000.
The Act also includes punishment for the head of the institutions who do not cooperate with inquiries, with imprisonment for a term not less than three years and a fine that may extend to Rs 1 lakh.
“Even in the latest incident that took place in Kakinada, where a blind teacher thrashed three visually-challenged children, he can only be tried under the regular IPC and the JJ Act, which is a bailable offence. We will initiate a criminal case against him,” Ms Mamatha said.
One incident of sexual abuse against a 13-year-old girl in Vizag has been pending for the past two months.
The teacher, who was sacked back then for about a couple of days, has now been reappointed as there was no proper law in place to punish him.
File photos of children subjected to corporal punishment. Top to bottom: Ghouse Ilyas Mohin, 5, was beaten by the principal, M. Hussain, of Orbit Grammar school. Injuries can be seen on his arm. 2. A child shows her injured fingers 3. Koneru shiva, a Class IV student who was beaten by his teacher, shows the injuries on his arm.
