THE tragic death of Sangeeta from the La Grange community who allegedly was pounced to death by ‘exorcists’ raises a number of issues that needed to be addressed by the relevant authorities.
The first is the proliferation of faith-based healing especially involving cases which are clearly mental and neurological and which could only be treated by the relevant medical personnel. It is time for the authorities to clamp down on these ‘tricksters’ who under the guise of religion engage in all manner of treatment which are clearly unscientific and contrary to medical norms.
The second issue is the neglect shown by parents and guardians which often forced these innocent children to seek refuge at the hands of strangers or distant relatives many of whom take advantage of their helplessness to carry out all kinds of nefarious acts including sexual molestation and abuse. Quite a few end up in the streets begging in order to eke out a living when they should have been in school.
Parents have an obligation to bring up their children in an environment of care and affection and any deviation from this responsibility should be met with sanctions both at the level of the community and the state.
There is an African saying that it takes a community to raise a child. The death of Sangeeta has added substance to this saying. Society and the institutions which make up societies including religious and cultural organizations cannot sit idly by and allow our children to be abused. We all need to be more vigilant and come to the rescue of the vulnerable in our society.
‘Too little, too late’ shall be the cry until and unless the society and the authorities wake up to a reality that too many of our children are vulnerable to abuse of one kind or the other.