The 17 year old rape victim who set herselfablaze on July 24, died three days later on July 27 at 4.45pm after beingadmitted with 86% burn injuries to the Goa Medical College andHospital. The student, in her dying declaration to the executivemagistrate stated that she took the drastic step as “she feared her life afterthe High Court of Bombay granted bail to the teacher” on July 10.
The girl, who was studying in a city basedschool, was allegedly raped by her Art teacher Kanhaiya Naik at his apartmenton December 29, 2011. Panjim police arrested him in January thisyear after he absconded for a couple of days. Mr. Parrikar also toldthe members of the State Legislative Assembly that “the child might havetaken this drastic step because she was under tremendouspressure”. The Chief Minister has admitted on the floor of the houseon July 25 that “one Child is abused every three days in Goa”.
In themeantime, various organisations and activists working with women and childrenheld a meeting at Caritas Hall in Panjim on July 28. Activists andorganisations included Auda Viegas of Bailancho Ekvott, Seema Pednekar of AllIndia Women’s Conference, Ashish Nagaserkar from Children’s Rights in Goa,Karishma Fonseca from Child Rights Cell of AITUC, Albertina Almeida, Caroline Colassoand many others.
They pointedout the lack of concern on the part of the government to make appropriatebudgetary allocations for creating and strengthening the protection mechanismsfor women and children. Despite the fact that the Children’s Act inGoa has come into force for over a decade now. The state has failed to providethe Victim Assistance Units under the Goa Children’s Act. It ispossible that the girl’s life could have been saved if this unit was inplace. After all she would have been visited, counseled and givenall the professional help and care she needed during this time of mental trauma.
The CM has assured that he would shortly berequesting the high court to appoint a full-time judge for the children’scourt, so that such cases can be prosecuted expeditiously. Presentlythe children’s court is sitting only for one day of the week --Monday. It has now come to light that several minors who have eitherbeen molested or raped have lost interest in their cases, as many of them arenow married and having children. Their cases have yet to beheard. Part of this delay is because forensic reports have to comeeither from Pune or Hyderabad. The same are generally received onlyafter a period of two years at the earliest.
The author is an ex lecturer from People’s High Secondary and is the manager of a school in Goa. She is also the convenor for Campaign against Child Labour in Goa (CACL)
