WANT TO CURB CRIMES COMMITTED BY JUVENILES AGAINST WOMEN? GENDER SENSITIZATION IS THE KEY

Crimes against women committed by juveniles is at an all-time high. The evidence is everywhere and spread across all parts of the country, be it rural or urban.

This alarming increase in the number of such juvenile crimes and the gruesomeness of the same propelled the Supreme Court to rethink on the differentiation in quantum of punishment between juveniles and adult offenders in the case of serious crimes. Amidst differing opinions and raging debates, the Court and the Parliament finally took a strong stance and enacted the amendment in juvenile law which allows children between 16 and 18 to be tried as adults depending on the severity of their crimes.

The question that plagues us is what actually causes these minors to be so insensitive and inhuman to commit such terrible crimes at such a young age. There’s an argument that children without family guidance are more likely to take to crime but statistics say otherwise. In Tamil Nadu alone, 95% of the juvenile delinquents in 2013 used to live with their parents. The reasons are actually many but one major cause can be attributed to the lack of gender sensitization from an early stage in life.

Gender Sensitization is a small but necessary step to the gradual eradication of gender biases and to reduce cases of abuse and harassment across the country. When a boy is nurtured with such values along with empathy and compassion, it contributes to shaping up their mindsets in a very different manner. What actually needs to change is their outlook towards women, their false sense of superiority on account of being born as a male member of society, their sense of entitlement and the belief that they enjoy the prerogative of assaulting women if they don’t respond positively to their overtures. What needs to be ingrained in them from a very early age itself is that they should respect women as fellow human beings instead of objectifying them and considering them as the weaker sex. Only then will eve-teasing be perceived as a crime rather than an element of fun!

We need to make sure that everything that our children are exposed to, condemn gender bias and promote gender sensitisation. We have managed to penetrate the remotest areas of our country with education, and it’s time we urge the authorities to implement gender sensitisation in education right away, because for our children, the clock is ticking.

Join Tata Tea’s initiative and sign the petition for making gender sensitisation programmes compulsory in school curriculum by clicking on this link by calling 7815966666 toll free.

Alarm Bajne Se Pehle Jaago Re!