It took just four days for young Gayathri to experience the two extremes of life.
She was on cloud nine after being elected as captain of the Ernakulam district school team only to be brought down to her knees when her first outing wearing the captain’s arm band was denied.
The incident that occurred earlier this week, in which Gayathri and six of her teammates, all from Janaseva Sisubhavan that houses street children and orphans, were initially disallowed to play in a junior under-17 football tournament for not producing birth certificates proving their age is a sign of the future challenges in store for them. Though they eventually got an opportunity to play the next day, the damage had been already done.
‘Violation of rights’Sunitha Krishnan, anti-trafficking crusader, said that birth certificate was not the sole document to prove age as there were other alternative documents. “Denying children’s right to participate solely on that ground is a blatant violation of child rights and those responsible should be penalised under all relevant provisions including the Juvenile Justice Act,” Ms. Krishnan said. Jose Maveli, chairman, Janaseva Sisubhavan, said that the children had at least three alternative documents for proving age, including the certificate issued by the Child Welfare Committee, certificate issued by a government hospital based on an age determination test, and the certificate issued by their school.
“Formalities involved in getting birth certificate for orphans and street children are tiring since there is no clear information about their birth. We are about to petition the court demanding easing of procedures,” he said.
‘Traumatic experience’Ajeesh Ramachandran, a psychiatrist, said that the traumatic experience of rejection by the society could be debilitating for the underprivileged children. “Such an experience when they are trying to rebuild their lives can have a negative impact battering their self-esteem and confidence,” he said.
‘Obsession with documents’A. Jayasankar, lawyer and media critic, said Malayali society’s inclination to forge documents to grab undue advantage led to obstinate rules such as insistence on birth certificates putting the children through such hardships. “Since there are no legal remedies to address such situations, some alternative mechanisms should be put in place,” he said.
