Justice elusive to abused children

The one-stop crisis centres (OCC), formed in 2001 to facilitate medical treatment, police assistance, social services, legal assistance and  counselling for women and children who were victims of repression, have reportedly been reduced to providing medical services only.  While we laud the government's initiative to cater for the medical needs of child victims of rape at the eight OCCs, a lot more needs to be done to provide them with effective legal services that will lead to the convictions of perpetrators of despicable crimes. 

According to a leading Bangla daily, one third of the total number of people who sought the OCCs' services during the last 15 years were children, 80 percent of whom fell victim to rape. An alarmingly high percentage of their families, however, did not pursue legal actions, sometimes opting to strike a 'compensation' deal with the abuser. The reasons behind this chilling fact are multilayered—social stigma, pressure from powerful quarters, lengthy legal procedures and lack of security, to name a few. In many instances, the OCC failed to follow up on the cases to see justice delivered. 

Rape, sexual harassment and violence against children are on the rise. An effective way to combat this menace would be to bring the criminals to justice in an exemplary fashion. And let's not fail to recongnise that the starting point is filing and preparing a case that will withstand the court's scrutiny. 

Special tribunals may be established to facilitate speedy trials of such cases. But most importantly, the government must provide security to the families of the victims during and after trials.