Protecting the Minor

Three different events this week indicate that our country is increasing efforts to protect the dignity and rights of our youth.

On June 14th the spokesperson for the Ministry of Women and Child Development said that it was proposing to amend the Domestic Violence Act along the lines of the US model of the “Safe DC” program. A two day workshop was conducted by the ministry with representatives from the states. An important fall out of this could be minors having the right to appeal in courts against violence or inadequate parenting. The victims can approach a domestic violence intake centre or a police station and the victim is assisted in getting an ex-parte temporary protection order within two hours which is valid for 14 days. During the period the victim is provided with shelter, transport, legal assistance, custody of children depending on her needs.(source: indialawyers.wordpress.com)

On the same day it was reported that two sisters from Ludhiana, Punjab challenged their father’s decision in the Supreme Court to halt their education on the premise that they were girls. Their father who is a shopkeeper refused to let them pursue their dreams of a post graduate degree in management and threatened to pull them out of college. Justice P. Sathasivam has advised the family to go for counselling to resolve the situation and has instructed the police to protect the girls from harassment from the family.

The movie “Udaan” which was released yesterday dwells on the dreams and talent of a boy and how he battles against the forces that threaten to obliterate them. The sensitively made film handles domestic violence through the eyes of children. The characters in the film are realistic and have shades of grey and even the person with the vile temper is shown to have redeeming features. However the final message in the film is loud and clear that violence in any relationship is immensely detrimental to the psyche of an individual and no amount of remorse or anguished affection later should be permitted as an excuse for pardon. The only way one can build a new beginning is by starting afresh.