Need stricter laws to deal with child abuse cases? Or just stop giving molester daddies custody? (New Delhi, India)

This is one of those articles where you just want to scream in frustration. While the reporter pontificates on child sexual abuse, notice the single case that is cited. An UNNAMED DAD gains CUSTODY of his 2-year-old daughter, only to sexually molest her. The fact that this father only got two years in prison--the maximum allowable--is certainly appalling.

But notice the questions that are NOT asked here. Assuming the mother was reasonably fit, why did it raise no red flags when the father set out to strip his "estranged wife" of custody? Didn't anybody question this father's motives, or what his agenda was in gaining custody of a 2-year-old girl? Why do judges continue to ignore the fact it is not entirely uncommon for molester fathers to strip their victims of maternal protection, so they can establish unhindered access to the victim?

If you truly want to prevent child sexual abuse, then stop stripping children--especially young and vulnerable children--of their fit mothers and handing them over to their controlling, abusive fathers.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/need-stricter-laws-to-deal-with-child-abuse-cases-court/774959/

Need stricter laws to deal with child abuse cases: CourtUtkarsh Anand

Posted: Tue Apr 12 2011, 02:54 hrs
New Delhi:

While statistics reveal that at least one in every five boys and one in every four girls are sexually abused — usually by their relatives — before they turn adults — the government has not paid enough heed to the calls for a separate legislation to punish the perpetrators of such heinous acts, a city court said.

Peeved by the laxity on the part of lawmakers, even after a spurt in the crime against children, a city court expressed its concerns while punishing a man for sexually assaulting his two-year-old daughter.

Referring to the case in hand wherein a 34-year-old man had in May 2007 abused his minor daughter, who used to live with his estranged wife, the court noted: “The present case is a glaring example of the growing menace of sexual abuse of children. Sexual abuse of a child of hardly two years is abominable and ghastly...and it becomes...barbaric when the victim is a small female child and the abuser her own father.” Awarding a two-year prison term — the maximum punishment under the law — to the convict, Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau held that while the courts could not go beyond the statutes governing the sentencing system, judges should take it upon themselves to hand out deterrent punishment to such offenders.

ASJ Lau, who had in past orders favoured a separate legislation for the crime of incest, pulled up the government for its apathy. “I may observe that the existing laws in India are highly inadequate in dealing with cases relating to child sexual abuse by close relatives, particularly where father is the perpetrator. There has been a long-standing demand for a separate legislation in this regard, but it appears that the issue has been (given) the least priority in the political agenda. The existing laws are highly inadequate in dealing with the aspects relating to consent and age of the victim in cases of intra-familial child sexual abuse,” ASJ Lau said.