Spanking a child'll soon be a crime

Those of you who believe in the dictum, 'spare the rod, spoil the child', better beware. The Big Brother is watching, and next time, you indulge yourself by spanking a child (as teacher, or parent), you are liable to be hauled up before the law. A law to make parents and teachers legally accountable for violence against children could be in the offing in the near future.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has constituted a working group to examine the issue of protecting children against violence and evolve a policy against corporal punishment in schools. The working group will be submitting its final report on Jan 31, 2008.

According to Niranjan Aradhya of the Department of Child Law in the National Law School of India University, the only member of the working group from south India, parents and teachers should be held legally accountable in case of violence against children. "There is a need to spell out this liability in clear terms of law to promote respect for the law in terms of deterrence," he said.

The NCPCR has given a call for a campaign against corporal punishment in schools, describing it as a fundamental breach of human rights.

What is corporal punishment? The national body has defined corporal punishment as involving "rapping on the knuckles, running on the school grounds, kneeling down for hours, standing up for long hours, sitting like a chair, being beaten with a scale, pinched and slapped, child sexual abuse, torture, locking up children alone in classrooms, electric shock and all other acts leading to insult, humiliation, physical and mental injury, and even death."