Childhood Violence and the Risk Involved

Childhood violence is one of the most terrifying and deplorable menaces that the society has faced. The Indian society has a long history of childhood violence which has been brought to the core by the media in higher frequency in the last decade. Plenty of new cases have been highlighted which has depicted children being molested, assaulted and even killed. One of the major risk factors of childhood violence is poverty. With families being so poor that they cannot afford to put roof over their own head, let alone their children, the vulnerability level of the children is bound to increase.

Another risk factor of childhood violence is vicious circle of children facing abuse that make them menacing adults. Various scientific studies have shown that children facing abuse and violence are more likely to cause trouble in the society when they grow up. We have seen the Nirbhaya case that occurred a few years back where the accused and later on guilty never really felt or showed any remorse for the heinous crime they committed. The natural knee jerk reaction is to think how in the world they cannot understand the gravity of their deplorable crime. However if we analyze these criminals or any other criminals who have committed similar crimes we will find a common pattern and a trend.

Their upbringing is not apt which includes their education, access to normal civic facilities and other necessary characteristics. With the lack of education in terms of human etiquettes, how to treat another individual, what is acceptable and what is not etc are missing. This is a massive gap that becomes a massive loophole delivering such deplorable results in future. This is not a failure from the point of view of the parents of the criminals but rather failure of the country, its government and our system. If these risk factors are not improved in future, the chances of such heinous activities will only be on the rise. Poverty, lack of financial resources and thus lack of education is a primary reason for such crimes. Mindsets of our society, our leaders, our people and our children would have to change.

A child with traumatic memories of violence and assault is going to be permanently affected for the rest of his or her life. There has to external agencies independent of the government’s control but working in collaboration with the government to induce new policies and implement them to protect the future of this country. Although certain NGO’s do exist who cater to such causes, the numbers are not enough to make a sizeable contribution to the actual problem. It’s high time we as a country do some introspection and make changes.