Any person with a bit of common sense, a modicum of humanity, and a pinch of plain common decency will tell you that corporal punishment is inhumane, cruel, and wrong. It can’t be anything else, but wrong – in the eyes of God and man.
How could; kicking, grabbing, shoving, spitting, slapping, pushing, pinching or confining children in small spaces; taping their mouths shut, pulling their hair, shaving their heads, tugging at their ears, pinching, belittling, mocking, embarrassing, swearing, cursing and robbing them of dignity, making them look foolish in front of their peers or breaking sticks upon their young tender hands, backs, and legs and branding their calves with a red-hot spatula to demonstrate what hell is like (as has diabolically happened in Bangladesh) or slapping him or her across the face. How could it be anything else, but wrong; or inappropriate behaviour by an adult, or an acceptable form of discipline?
Discipline is meant to teach, not punish, induce pain, or damage.
Those who think differently are verifiably crazy, earthly ambassadors of Satan, or both. How, on one hand, can we claim all children are children of God (as they undoubtedly are) and then proceed to beat out their heavenly-instilled goodness with Satanic-made ignorance?
When a person hits a child – parent, teacher, imam, guardian or whoever – they are openly displaying their own unadulterated ignorance and shameful bankrupt state of humanity.
Bankrupt in humanity
In 2011, noble and patriotic Supreme Court justice M. Imman Ali and Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif sought to end the satanic-inspired disgraceful practice of corporal punishment throughout Bangladesh. They succinctly described it as ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and a clear violation of a child’s fundamental right to life, liberty and freedom’.
A person could be forgiven for thinking that a law banning corporal punishment in all settings would be in hot pursuit, especially since Bangladesh signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990!
CRC is the most universally accepted human rights instrument, ratified by every country in the world except two, the USA and Somalia. The Convention incorporates the full range of human rights – civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights – of children into one single document.
Free of cruelty and abuse
Recently, on July 29, the Chhattisgarh High Court in India, delved into the meaning of ‘Right to Life’, highlighting that this right encompasses more than mere animal survival, extending to a dignified existence free from cruelty and abuse.
This expanded interpretation of Article 21, according to the court, includes several fundamental rights, such as the right to live with dignity, freedom from arbitrary and oppressive control, torture, and terror, and protection against cruelty, physical or mental violence, injury, abuse, and exploitation, including sexual abuse.
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“All these rights are available to the child and he cannot be deprived of the same just because he is small. Being small does not make him a less human being than a grown up. It also appears to us that corporal punishment is not keeping with child’s dignity,” the court said.
“Child being a precious national resource is to be nurtured and attended with tenderness and care… Subjecting the child to corporal punishment for reforming him cannot be part of education as it causes incurable harm to body and mind,” a division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal said.
Children are the most vulnerable members of society, but given the least protection. Hit an adult in most countries and there’s every chance you will be charged with assault and battery, end up in court, and do jail time. Hit a child and it’s an entirely different scenario. They don’t have any rights worth mentioning or if they do, they are seldom enforced. They rarely complain to the police because the police may demand payment for their ‘secretarial’ services recording the complaint.
Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal in their summary, added:
“It is cruel to subject the child to physical violence in school in the name of discipline or education. A child being a precious national resource is to be nurtured and attended with tenderness and care and not with cruelty. Subjecting the child to corporal punishment for reforming him cannot be part of education.”
By Sir Frank Peters
Sir Frank Peters is a former newspaper and magazine publisher and editor, a humanitarian, and a human rights activist.
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