KOZHIKODE: DYFI central committee member and Kannur district panchayat vice-president P. P. Divya's Facebook post slamming the rights violations of children when parents make them walk barefoot to Sabarimala traversing long distance has kicked up a storm. With an attached picture, the post says that it was deeply disturbing two toddlers made to walk 400 km all the way from Kasaragod to Sabarimala and it cannot be justified in the name of any belief. The photo shows two kids walking barefoot on the road along with two men towards Sabarimala.
The post became viral with 889 people sharing and thousands liking it. But self-proclaimed Hindu supporters rained abusive comments and challenged her to speak against the right violation in the circumcision of Muslim boys. A good number of people wondered whether her party was not rallying kids in their party programmes. "(It) is cruel and highly condemnable. This is going on for many years and is not exclusive to Sabarimala pilgrimage but binding to all pilgrimages. But Divya should first introspect whatever gruesome atrocities her party had inflicted upon humanity," says a post.
Many equate the issue to that of controversial Garudan Thookkam, and Shoolam Kuthal practised as a part of religious rituals. Kannur district child protection officer M. Anju Mohan says the society is premature to stand for child rights in such situations. "We have not reached that stage where paramount importance is given to the rights of children. The people who mostly approve child rights in other cases are unlikely to share the same opinion if it includes religion or other sensitive issues," she notes.
State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KeSCPCR) member Sreela Menon said the commission would act if anyone complained. It had registered a suo motu case on displaying a toddler allegedly tied to an artificial leaf for hours during a cultural pageantry held at Payyannur on Sree Krishna Jayanti on September 12. But no further action has been taken.
