Children - Is there a better future for them?

There is one segment of the population which ends up getting a raw deal most of the time. No! It's not women, rather it is children. Their inability many a times to protect themselves from adults, who are technically supposed to protect and raise them have resulted in thousands of young lives being snuffed out with out a voice.


In India, it took a gruesome murder case to jolt and awaken the conscience of a nation. Each year, thousands of children are reported missing in India. In a country with over a billion population and a vast country side, it is akin to searching for a drop in the ocean. For years, perhaps decades, thousands of children from the slums and poorer sections of society were reported missing. Most cases are written off as run-away to the main metropolitan cities, to join the technically illegal, but ever existing child labour force which drives every day life in the cities.


The tears and voices of distraught parents were overlooked and brushed aside by the police and society at large. The Nithari killings, in Noida which is literally on the outskirts of the Indian capital Delhi sent shock waves throughout India. For a nation which is not used to the concept of serial murders, the bodies of more than twenty children being found cut up, sexually abused, dissolved in acid, cannibalised and dumped in gutters took the media and every parent in India by force.


The blame game and pointing fingers began instantly between the police, parents, government officials with the media adding fuel to the fire by playing quotes of the above against each other.
However in the mess, heads started rolling with the Central Bureau of Investigation taking over the case.


It may be too late for the Noida victims, but in the ashes of this carnage, there is new hope for the thousands of other missing children! With the limelight on the case, the judiciary has ordered enquiries into all missing reports of children across India.


There is now increasing support from the once indifferent society to help locate and find these children, though it may be too late for many. But it could be the small stone that started a landslide. New legislation and awareness of society to this silent but precious segment of society will go a long way in ensuring a better and safer future for generations to come.


But the media cannot be absolved of blame in its role of failing to be the watchdogs of society. Before they point a finger at the police, they should ask themselves, was tabloid news worth more investigating than cases where thousands of children went missing across the country? It is also sad, shameful and hypocritical that as a part of society, each one of us lives in this cocoon refusing to lend a voice of support until we accuse others of indifference when we ourselves become victims.

A moment of silence for all young souls who do not rest in the comfort and security of their homes!

"Children are the only form of immortality that we can be sure of." ~Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov, CBE

Related Stories:
CBI probe may spell bad news for cops
Court seeks report on missing children
Post-Noida, parents on edge...
More than 200 kids missing in Jharkhand