The rape of a three-year-old girl in Sumbal area of Bandipora district in north Kashmir is the most shameful act and against the human values. An increase in the crime rate anywhere is an opportunity to look at society and at ways to reduce crime through prevention and intervention.
For the past few decades in Kashmir there has been an upsurge in criminal activity, primarily perpetrated by young men.
These criminal incidents have been quite disturbing, as Kashmiri we are becoming a people who are way too passive and reactive when it comes to these societal issues. No one wakes up one day and decides to get involved in criminal activity. It has a root, but many of us do not seek to find out what that is. We just like to offer our own suggestions about what punishment the offender should receive.
When a child is born, he or she normally has parents and extended family members who seek to raise them with the necessary values and morals needed in order to develop a good character for the future. The family’s behaviour should be a prime and positive example of what the child should be striving to emulate. But, due to the fact that we do not live in an ideal world, this is not always possible.
We need to start helping our young sons before they imbibe criminal tendencies. We need to stop saying “it is not my problem”. For when that young man grows up and his issues spiral out of control so badly that it affects your children, then we want to take it seriously. Crime does not occur in a vacuum. It affects all of us.
