Jakarta: Prevent Junior Defendants, Says Ministry

“.. the Social Services Ministry have long fought to amend the 1997 Child Trial Law allowing 8-years-olds to be put on trial and therefore face jail, a senior ministry official said Friday. "The law that allows 8-year-olds to be put behind bars must be scrapped," said Harry Hikmat, director of children's social services at the ministry ..”

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Maldives: The religious right calls for violence against women and children to continue

“.. Under Maldivian law child sexual abuse requires a confession by the alleged abuser, or testimony by four eye-witnesses, for a successful conviction to take place. This means that if a victim reports sexual abuse but the perpetrator denies it and there are no eye-witnesses, the court can find the child guilty of having consented to the sex. The state would then wait for the girl to turn 18 and then carry out the sentence of public flogging, in effect, punishing her for reporting the crime ..”

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UAE: New Strategy to Focus on Child Welfare

“.. Children's rights will be the focus of a new strategy that is being developed by the General Women's Union (GWU) in the UAE and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), .. Our work will revolve around the health, safe environment, education, early childhood development, culture, and protection of children under difficult circumstances ..”

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Abuse Of Children on Railway Platforms: Rights Body Takes Note

“.. Scores of children wash up at India’s railway platforms every day, lost, abandoned or fleeing from home. But they are treated with suspicion – sometimes even slapped and beaten – by railway police who are ignorant of laws related to juveniles. Appalled by the lack of sensitivity of railway police personnel towards these children, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is planning to write to the railway ministry suggesting legal amendments ..”

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Castration of Sex Offenders: Deterrent or Torture

" .. Whether castration can help to rehabilitate violent sex offenders has come under close scrutiny after the Council of Europe's anti-torture committee last month called it invasive, irreversible and mutilating ..

For Hynek Blasko, there is only one way to prevent what happened to his son. "These people must be under permanent detention where they can be monitored," he said. "There has to be a difference between the rights of the victim and the perpetrator who takes away the life of a 9-year-old boy." .. "

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Child Abuse In Temple Towns

" .. Major pilgrimage centres such as Puri and Tirupati are turning into hubs of male child prostitution, a recent survey says. It pinpoints two reasons for the racket: the ban on child labour and the absence of any vigilance on what tourists do ..
The survey points to the scarcity of information on sexual exploitation of boys and prostitution by them. This, they say, is based on the mistaken assumption that since most sexual exploiters are male, their victims must always be female. “The double standards that society has about homosexuality, and the fact that it is criminalised in India, only make the problem less visible,’’ the study says.
In Tirupati, which receives mostly Indian visitors, interviews of boys aged six to 18 revealed rampant sexual abuse, propelled by demand from domestic tourists .. "

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Mental Health Nurses: We Have An Equally Important Role As Psychiatrists

" .. Saleem T K said psychiatric nursing or mental health nursing is a salient part of the psychiatric treatment, which basically comprises a psychiatrist, psychologist, occupational therapists, counsellors along with professional mental health nurses. "Though this concept of collaborative efforts were the root cause of its success in the West, the concept is slowly catching up in India and now part of treatment procedure. Up to a decade ago, mental health meant one would think of a psychiatrist ..

Vinitha K V says, "Our role cannot be undermined. We are the real people involved in the treatment of patients (mental) and have to closely watch them and their behavioural patterns.'' "In the West, psychotherapy, hypnosis and such other collaborative methods are in vogue, but in India until recently mental health treatment is not free from the clutches of conservative methods, which was largely depended only on a psychiatrist.'' Things are rapidly changing and our role as an important team member of the mental health system is growing significantly .. "

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Teacher Disrobes Girls

".. Sanjeev Sharma, had allegedly removed the upper clothes of eight Adivasi girl students on the pretext of taking measurements for their uniforms … the DEO constituted a four-member committee, led by Tehsildar Kiran Badbade, which after conducting a probe found Sharma prima facie guilty on the matter. Taking action on the probe report, the DEO dismissed Sharma from service yesterday with immediate effect .. "

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New Tamil Film Deals with Child Abuse

Achchamundu Achchamundu Movie Review

" .. An emotion so uncommon in India and among Indians that the NRI Sneha doesn’t suspect the man she invites to paint her home to be a pedophile. Yes, you heard it right: child abuse, a theme we have so rarely seen in a Tamil film, despite India registering the highest number of such crimes in the world. The most gripping thing about ‘Achchamundu! Achchamundu!’ is that it deals with a fear lurking in the country: not with ghosts or the supernatural kind, but a real, looming issue .. "

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Here's a review of the film

Related article: Emmy-award winning American actor John Shea plays villain in Tamil film

Teachers Charged in Strip Case

".. Kabita Barui and Aditi Maitra were looking for Rs 50 that a classmate of the girls had lost. The teachers have been charged under sections 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC, following a complaint by the father of one of the girls .."
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17-year old raped, filmed by two in Mohali

".. the police have booked cloth merchant Parminder Singh alias Harman and Sunny alias Raghav, both from Sirhind, under Sections 363 (abduction), 366-A (procuration of minor girl), 376 (rape), 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC. The accused are absconding .."
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Child Abusers May Walk Free

" .. Ten months after two Indian supervisors of SOS Village were found guilty of a serious complaint of child sex abuse, the world's largest orphanage is yet to register a police case against them .. the inquiry against accused Sudesh Malla, former director of SOS Village in Jammu, has been called off because he has resigned from the job. The other accused, Rameshwar Singh, works with the SOS youth facility in Chandigarh. .."
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Call For Guidelines to Deal with CSA in Schools

" .. in the absence of a protocol for handling allegations of child sexual abuse (CSA), there is a great need to frame such a policy which would address the needs of different school streams in the state. "The proposed Integrated Child Protection Unit (ICPU) scheme, which has been cleared by the planning commission and the cabinet can look at having a protection officer for every district," said Andal Damodaran, honorary secretary, Indian Council for Child Welfare .. She made these observations at the end of a workshop on Responding to allegations of CSA in school settings' organised by Tulir, Centre for Healing and Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse. Many educationists recalled instances of CSA involving their students, and emphasised the need to draw up a framework for handling the cases .. "

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