Childhoods lost in a troubled paradise (The children of Kashmir)

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 Childhoods lost in a troubled paradise (The children of Kashmir)

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• Shopian district's story : Every third child in Shopian, J&K has a clinically diagnosable mental disorder (as per a Survey 2019). In 2015, 18 lakh adults in Kashmir valley showed symptoms of mental illnesses (as per Doctors Without Borders).
• Post August 05, 2019 : Various media reports have shown illegal detention of children, taken away without any process, even at midnight. A latest survey spoke of mothers standing at their doorsteps waiting endlessly for children to return. (The S.C. verdict in DK Basu makes it mandatory for the State to inform the family in each case.)
• Pawns : The Kashmiri children are mere pawns in a deadly game, in which governments are punishing those who go against its authority. From 1990 to 2005, hundreds of schools were gutted, or occupied by armed forces. When schools are gone, and kids detained, the impact is lifelong.
• PSA : The UNHCR report 2019 found that many children were in police lock-ups, with wrong ages recorded.  That was under the Public Safety Act (PSA), that allows preventive detention for 2 yrs without trial. AFSPA reduced accountability further.
• 80% illegal : From 1990 to 2013, hundreds of detentions of children were challenged in the courts, and upto 80% found illegal! The trauma for kids must have been lasting.
• What all laws are violated :

1. Article 14(4) of International Convention on Civil and Political Rights 
2. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (ratified by India)
3. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

• All of these talk of multiple preventive measures rather than blanket arrests and detentions.
• 2003 Madras HC : The Madras High Court in "Prabhakaran v. State of Tamil Nadu" held that the Juvenile Justice Act overrides the preventive detention laws. The SC too cleared that sledgehammer approach cannot be applied to young people.
• Not sending to school : In Kashmir today, parents aren't sending kids to school out of fear that children may get caught. In conflicted regions, parents have no one to go to later. Courts too are not reliable now, as lawyers are arrested, and most others are on strike. Almost all habeas corpus petitions are pending! the J&K High Court is practically dysfunctional post 05 August, 2019.
• Approach the SC : Citizens can approach the Indian Supreme Court directly in such cases. The movement there is slow.
• Traumatised : When parents are killed, the children lose their childhood and are permanently traumatised. No promises of development can ever justify the inhumane treatment of children.
• Summary : Irrespective of what conditions prevail, or what the future promises of development be, the present day inhumane treatment of children is not permissible.

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