Dedicated to a cause for years, recognition for Dr Bharti Sharma is not just an acknowledgement of her work but appreciation of the cause she espouses. She was recently conferred the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur (Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour), the highest civilian award on behalf of the President of the French Republic by the French Ambassador HE Alexandre Ziegler, for upholding the dignity of children and women.
Expressing happiness, she says, “More than a personal achievement, I feel elated that child protection and women empowerment are vital social issues that are increasingly gaining importance and being recognised as focus areas.”
A doctorate in juvenile delinquency from South Gujarat University, Bharti has several years of teaching experience in different universities in India and abroad. Currently she is associated with several NGOs working for children and women. She was also the Chairperson of Child Welfare Committee from 2003 to 2009.
Although there has been progress in addressing various issues concerning children like education and health care yet much more needs to be accomplished. Bharti feels some basic changes are required to be effected. “As adults, we take upon ourselves the responsibility of making decisions on behalf of children without taking into account their views and desires. This mindset needs to be changed. It is imperative to inculcate decision making in children from an early age.”
Dr. Bharti Sharma with French Ambassador HE Alexandre Ziegler after receiving the Legion of Honour award
Many would argue that children are very young to make decisions for themselves. “Give them a chance to use their judgement. As adults we need to step in to discuss pros and cons of their choices and make them see reason. Usually adults take on the role of decision makers for children in an attempt to protect them, however it's important to help the child make their choices. Instead of direction let there be guidance.”
Bringing to fore her academic training and experience, Bharti qualifies what protection means. “Besides upholding rights it entails safeguarding children from physical, psychological, sexual and emotional abuse. The belief in ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ still continues, making punishment a staple part of child upbringing. Hitting does not stop repetition of mistakes nor does locking up in a room or berating the child in the presence of others especially outsiders. On the contrary such actions make them obstinate with an attitude — ready to take on punishment. Punishment leaves a permanent scar on the psyche of children hampering their personality.” She avers that it is erroneous to equate punishment with discipline. “Fear psychosis cannot be the basis for discipline, instead communication and reasoning are. This should be adopted by the family as well as at the institutional level.”
Parents and teachers need to be sensitised about the same for the overall development of the child. Child psychologists and social volunteers can play an important role in this.
Delving on high incidence of sexual abuse, Bharti says children make easy targets. They are susceptible to threats besides feel scared and ashamed to reveal the abuse. She reiterates their early training in identifying safe touch from unsafe one is necessary. “A child fondled with the explicit objective of abuse should be trained to immediately bring this to the notice of a responsible elder, be it parents or teachers. To enable them to confide, a sense of comfort and confidence needs to be built with family and teachers.” According to her, one must constantly guard against all these abuses as they tend to impact a child permanently. “Violence may make them aggressive affecting their psyche while sexual exploitation has long-term psychological and emotional consequences.”
Juvenile crime
On drawing her attention to the increasing growth in juvenile crime rate, Bharti agrees that there is a spurt in juveniles taking to heinous crimes like murder and rape. This was highlighted with the ‘Nirbhay’s’ case where one of the sentenced was under aged. Having been on the Committee for drafting Model Rules, 2007 of Juvenile Justice Act, she observes the situation is grave. “But there is more to it than what meets the eye. That the criminal act deserves penalty is a foregone conclusion. It must commensurate with the juvenile’s age and maturity level.”
Speaking on the juvenile’s ability to comprehend their actions and the consequences that follow Bharti says several socio-economic factors cloud their minds. These include broken homes, violence at home and lack of basic amenities like food, clothing and shelter.”
Insisting on reformation than punitive steps she wants juveniles to be provided avenues for improvement like counselling and engagement in productive activities. “Restorative justice and not retributive justice is the need of the day.” Pointing at the lackadaisical attitude of authorities she says, “the Juvenile Justice Act of 2000 specified measures for rehabilitation of child offenders which have not been implemented on the ground level yet. The Act was changed in 2015 without ever examining how the earlier version fared. Strange are the ways of adults to judge juveniles.”
Under the circumstances it is obvious that a girl child would suffer more given the prevalent male dominance in the society and the social mindsets.
Gender disparity
“Gender disparity is deeply entrenched in our society commencing from birth. Boy means plenty of laddoos and celebration while a girl reflects silence and of course no sweets,” she wits. Growing up, this discrimination translates into less for the girl in terms of food, facilities and education. “Many on reaching puberty are taken off schools and confined to homes to learn cooking and household chores rendering a huge chunk of the population illiterate, ill equipped and weak.” With a few exceptions the partiality is prevalent across all sections. “To overcome this, spreading awareness about gender equality is crucial at an individual and community level.”
Concerned with other facets of women empowerment, Bharti works closely with Shakti Shalini dedicated to women’s rights and gender based violence. Applauding measures like setting up of committees on sexual harassment of women in workplaces she says this is limited to organised sector. However the unorganised sector which employees a huge percentage of women is left at large. “Here they are paid less than men and also subjected to all kinds of harassment which they put up because of lack of education, and poverty.”
Continuing in the same vein Bharti says women empowerment is not just about her economic independence. Even highly educated and professional women having high profile jobs can also be at the receiving end of violence and abuse at home or work.
‘Growing up a girl child should be groomed to take a stand for herself and saying 'NO’ to any discrimination or violence. This is the true essence of gender equality.”
