Maha Sabha head slams government ministers: Child marriage not child abuse

Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) president general Pundit Krishna Rambally is slamming some members of the government for their “highly erroneous position” that the SDMS supports child marriages.

Addressing an audience at the SDMS’ Indian Arrival Day celebrations at the Penal Rock Hindu Primary School on Monday, Rambally said it is an issue which “continues to irk the Hindu community” and, despite repeated annual efforts to illustrate the community’s struggles, “there are those who are still bent on belittling the conditions in which our ancestors struggled and, consequently, disrespecting their way of life.”

He said the assertion that the Maha Sabha supports child marriage is one thing by itself.

“But now it is pure wickedness when they want you to believe that we somehow support child abuse.

“I want you to understand that when we supported the marriage of persons under 18, it was with the following conditions – A child is defined as someone who is under 18. So in law a 17-year-old is a child. A 16-year-old is a child. But now they making it sound like we were promoting marriage among ten, 11, 12 and 13-year-olds. Ladies and gentlemen, nothing is further from the truth.”

The Miscellaneous Provisions Marriage Bill was passed in Parliament in June 2017. This legislation amended other laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, Orisha Marriage Act and the Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Act, to raise the legal age of marriage to 18, effectively outlawing child marriage.

Rambally said it was the Maha Sabha’s view that a 16 -or 17-year-old, in certain limited circumstances, should be allowed to get married, with the support of their families.

“Let me ask you bluntly. Which do you prefer? Having a 17-year-old girl get pregnant and have a child out of wedlock? Or have her deliver a child within the sanctity of marriage? This was our view. We were not for one moment suggesting that the teenager be forced into marrying.”

He said a child born to a teen mother in the sanctity of marriage “will enjoy the honour of the father’s surname and benefit from the extended family which gave consent to such a marriage.”

Rambally said people are mashing up the truth and are now equating the issue with child abuse.

“When you have people deciding for you that the traditions practised by your forefathers in the last century, when marriage of young persons was the norm, and when they make you feel that this is the same as the child abuse that’s going-on in state-run children’s homes, it tells you that they are ignorant or that they are being deceptive on purpose – one or the other.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let it be crystal clear, that when a child of early teens was married in the decades and century past, such a child was not abused, beaten, molested, starved and humiliated like the child victims in state homes. Our forefathers were not paedophiles. They were not abusers and molesters of children that exist in the state-run children’s homes today.”

He categorically rejected any argument that the long-time practice of child brides is comparable to being put in a state-run children’s home.

"There is absolutely no equivalence."

He described the continued insistence by some govermment members that child marriage equates child abuse "is a blatant signal that political mileage is being extracted from a seriously tragic situation."

Rambally advised Government to stop trying to deflect blame about child abuse in children's homes

"Deal with those abused children with some humanity and compassion. Start by removing the monsters. Find proper homes for the children. Ensure they have a decent education and that they are functionally literate. Make sure you bring those monsters to justice."

Rambally said child abuse is undoubtedly a prevalent evil in  society, and the State has a legal, moral and social duty to care for children in state-run homes and children who have run away from them.

"We seem to have forgotten the basics, that all children have a right to be free from harm."

He said once Government sets unnecessary politics aside, the SDMS is ready, willing and able to partner with it to help mitigate the extreme abuse plaguing children in state-run homes.

On April 29, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Ayanna Webster-Roy laid a report in Parliament by a committee chaired by retired justice of appeal Judith Jones. The report had disturbing findings with respect to reports of abuse and absconding at the traditional government-funded children’s homes and the Valsayn Child Support Centre. These included staff promoting a culture that encouraged abuse among residents, security guards found guilty of abusing residents, and a lack of proper supervision of residents leading to situations of physical abuse.

On May 5, the Prime Minister announced that a task force had been established to implement the recommendations in the report. Dr Rowley said the task force had to submit its work plan to Cabinet within six weeks.

Rowley has criticised Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the United National Congress for not implementing recommendations contained in a 1997 Robert Sabga task force report about abuse in children's homes. He called on acting Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacob to find the report and take the necessary action against everyone implicated in it or with its revelations.

Rowley also called on Persad-Bissessar and Sabga to apologise for politicising the Sabga report's contents. Sabga said he had nothing to apologise for, and all governments since 1997 had failed to address the issue of child abuse.