Papon kissing girl is child sexual abuse. Ignoring his crime is failing every child
Assamese singer Angarag Papon Mahanta — popularly known as Papon — was caught on camera kissing an 11-year-old girl. In a Facebook video where he is seen celebrating Holi with the contestants of the music reality show The Voice of India Kids Season 2 (Papon, Himesh Reshammiya, Shaan, and Palak Muchhal are the show's judges), the singer was seen kissing one of the contestants on the lips.
The live video, shared by the singer’s official (verified) Facebook page, has been since widely shared with social media calling out his perversion with negative comments. But it is not just condemnation that the singer has been met with, in a formal complaint made with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), he has been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 for “inappropriately kissing” the girl.
Supreme Court Advocate Runa Bhuyan, who filed the complaint, wrote in the letter: "I am shocked to see the behaviour of the said singer Angarag Papon Mahanta towards a minor girl where he is seen applying colors on a minor girl and inappropriately kissing the said girl. On seeing the video, I am seriously concerned regarding the safety and security of minor girls participating in reality shows across India,"adding that “an enquiry under section 7 and 8 of the POCSO Act, 2012."
#Delhi: Supreme Court advocate Runa Bhuyan files a complaint against singer Papon for 'inappropriately kissing a minor girl' who is a contestant on a reality TV show. pic.twitter.com/uqTT10YpiD
— ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2018
Papon's lawyer Gaurang Narang, on the other hand, claimed that the whole incident is being blown out of proportion. Speaking with India Today, Narang said: "A person will not put anything against him on public domain for anybody to pick it up and make it a complaint. It is very unfortunate, that a lawyer who has done this — maybe it is her mindset. But the fact remains that this kind of compassion, affection should not be misconstrued. The singer is quite disturbed by the whole incident."
Partha Gogoi, Papon’s manager, told news website Guwahati Plus, “The act was not meant to hurt the sentiments of any individual, and that it was not wrong in any manner, which is why they see no reason to pull down the video from the official Facebook page of Papon.”
Is the singer's act being blown out of proportion? No.
Section 7 of the POCSO Act, 2012, clearly states: “Whoever, with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person, or does any other act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration is said to commit sexual assault,” and section 8 adds that, “Whoever, commits sexual assault, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine.”
Papon's act — kissing a minor — clearly falls under the ambit of section 7.
What is perhaps equally deplorable is how the girl’s family reacted to the incident. To defend Papon, his lawyer cited a statement that has been issued by the minor's father who has requested that "the relationship between a guru and a shishya" not be maligned.
According to National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB), as many as 15,039 children were identified as victims of assault under the POCSO Act in 2015. In 8,341 cases — more than half — the assaulter was known to the child, often a relative, a family friend or even a teacher. Not only is it patently wrong to brush off an incident of sexual assault on a minor in the name of “guru-shishya (teacher-student)” relationship, it is also imperative that such notions of piety and virtue be wholeheartedly ignored in light of alarming facts and figures such as these.
One should, after all, not forget how Faizuddin Laskar, a teacher of Model High School in Assam's Hailakandi district, took obscene pictures of himself with a minor student inside the classroom and then posted them online in August, 2017. Laskar, in fact, could be seen posing with the girl with a blackboard in the background.
What is also curious is that in Laskar's case, the outrage against the schoolteacher was almost unanimous, and rightly so. But in Papon's case, there are several fans who did not take long to shrug off this incident under the guise of "harmless", "making mountain out of molehill", "but her father said", and other inane excuse.
Papon, himself has issued a statement.
— papon angaraag (@paponmusic) February 23, 2018
His statemen, like that of his lawyer and manager has no apology and myriad excuses. He claims is action was a show of “affection for an 11-year-old child who I have been mentoring for a while”. Appalling as it is that Papon considers non-consensual bursts of “affection” a part of his mentoring; his statement only goes from bad to worse. He, in complete non sequitur, adds that he has been happily married for 14 years and has two young children.
He further tries to brush off his guilt with the social stigma that the minor girl is likely to face, saying: “There is a little girl involved, whose identity is not masked in any way. Both of our families are being destroyed forever, just by people jumping to conclusions.”
While the singer admits at one point that he has made a mistake, he quickly cancels this admission out with statements like, “in today’s environment, to touch a girl child, however innocent your thoughts are, is not advisable.” His note continues to present and repeat banalities like his marital status, he being an accountable citizen, him caring for safety of women, before finally abandoning all responsibility by saying that what is being depicted is not what actually transpired and it is in fact “just a case of faulty camera angles”.
At a time when women, men and transgendered people around the world are breaking the silence around sexual assault, sexual harassment and rape, an incident like this cannot and should not be overlooked. For an adult to think it is okay to kiss a minor without his or her consent is appalling.
Silence, shame, stigma and archaic notions only help normalise such behaviour — it has serious consequences for the mental health of children. No matter what the singer, his lawyers, and others who defend him say, the depravity is out there for everyone to see.
It is more that apparent that this was an incident of assault.