Child abuse victims need speedy justice

Is child sex abuse really an offshoot of consumerism and globalisation as rights groups claim? Or is this barbarism being swept under the car-pet because of the stigma attached to it?
Race, religion and even gender are irrelevant when it comes to sexual abuse of children. Filmmakers, writers, politicians and even the clergy form the list of perpetrators. But the list starts closer home and includes neighbours, fathers and even grandfathers as recent cases of abuse reported from Kerala, a tiny state in South India, which is at the top of social indices.
I grew up listening to stories about Ranga and Billa, two rapists who kidnapped and sexually assaulted siblings, Geeta and Sanjay Chopra. Teachers would warn us against going out alone and to be wary of 'bad' people and their 'bad' touch. The two were hanged after four years of legal procedures in 1982. All was quiet for another 14 years. It was as if crimes against children did not happen or people did not report them, until a case in 1996 in Kerala.
A senior politician was involved in the Suryanelli sex scandal that rocked the state, but shockingly, the victim, a girl of only 16, was not considered a child but a nymphomaniac who did not 'attempt to escape from captivity'.
 Of the 37 men involved during 42 days of abuse, only a few were punished. The police, judiciary and society-at-large found fault with the girl who eloped with her boyfriend only to be sold to sexual predators. In this case, except the boyfriend, all others were strangers to the girl. Suffice it is to say that political manoeuvring came to their rescue.
Kerala is again clamouring for justice for two girls aged 10 and 14 who allegedly committed suicide (or were they murdered?) after being raped by their uncle and father's acquaintances in Palakkad district recently.
Another child suicide during in late March made people realise that something is rotten in the state of affairs. The victim, a 10-year-old girl, was subjected to sexual abuse by her grandfather, with the consent of the grandmother. She was later found dead in her room. The same man had allegedly killed a 14-year-old boy, a case that came to light only after the girl's death.
Why these double standards when it comes to child abuse despite all the 'intellectual activism and political awareness'?
The Indian state tops in literacy, with the highest scores in total and female literacy rates, Sadly, education is not helping any victim of child abuse stand up and nail the abuser, even though the state ranks high in child literacy levels.
Three child abuse cases are reported in Kerala daily according to the police. Indian laws protect the rights of children, but law enforcement is weak and criminals are having the last laugh. When the state machinery fails, crimes increase in any society. Justice is delayed and criminals go scot free. Kerala could learn from Gulf countries who have targeted sex offenders with speedy justice.
Had the police and judiciary in Kerala treated the Suryanelli case as child abuse back in 1996, things would not have come to such a pass in 2017.My head hangs in shame as I write this, thinking of those killers and rapists who are out there, ready to pounce on their next young victims who have not even begun to dream.
 nazeem@khaleejtimes.com