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Ensure safety  of children in  legal custody

08 Nov 2022

Grave allegations of child abuse are being levelled against a teacher and the principal of a school in Milleniya, Horana, and also against certain Police officers, for allegedly physically harassing and torturing several Grade Five children in the search for a lost purse belonging to the said teacher. While the people in general have already concluded that the school administration and the Police are guilty, and several probes have been commenced by the Police, the Education Ministry, and the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), there is however more to be revealed about this alleged incident, because, at the moment, almost all accounts of the entire incident appear to be based on the statements of the children in question. Assuming that the allegations are true, or are equal in seriousness as to what actually happened, we can see two main issues: The alleged Police torture of minors, and a severe lack of responsibility on the part of the school administration.  This incident involves allegations of serious acts of torture and intimidation at the hands of the Police, which, as per the media reports, include even electrocution and beating them with batons, or threatening to do so, in order to drag the truth out of the children about the alleged theft. While it is yet to be confirmed whether the Police in fact committed such acts, Police brutality or custodial torture is sadly not an uncommon occurrence in Sri Lanka, even though this is perhaps the first time that allegations were levelled against the Police of committing such acts against children. In that light, not just the probes launched by the Police, but also other independent probes, should prioritise investigating particular that aspect of the alleged incident, and look into whether the Sri Lanka Police has the powers to arrest such young children without the consent or the presence of those children’s parents or guardians. The same concern arises when looking at the allegations levelled against the school administration, which includes the principal of the school in question. The grounds or authority on which they handed over these children to the Police without the consent or the presence of the children’s parents or guardians, especially when the matter was one of a minor theft, is questionable. A priority area of these investigations needs to be ascertaining whether they have violated any codes of conduct of the school, or any laws on children’s safety. While this incident is yet to be investigated properly, inhumane treatment at the hands of the Police and corporal punishment in schools are disturbing habits the nation has long been struggling to break. Regardless of the outcomes of the ongoing probes, this incident should be a reminder that physical harassment is still a go-to practice in well-known institutions, and has become normalised due to various reasons – including the belief that words cannot always get a child, or even a person, for that matter, onto the right track without the real threat of physical force. This situation can only be changed through legal reforms and attitudinal changes that physical harassment is neither the only nor the best way to convince a person to reveal information.  At the end of the day, despite having a history of over 2,500 years, foremost institutions such as the Police and schools still resort to primitive and oppressive methods of dealing with issues. That is by no means a sign of a civilised nation.  


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