Abstract
Every year, approximately one million children become victims of abuse by peers, teachers, parents and Ustad (master or the head mechanic). The Ustad sodomize these children at workshops, where they come to gain skills, and earn for their families’ livelihood. The purpose of this study was to analyze the nature and intensity of child abuse in automobile workshops in Islamabad, and to know the self-perception of these victimized children about such actions of their masters. The social learning theory, which is the most applicable theory to study child abuse, explains that the abuse is learned through actions and observations. The masters learned the abusive behavior from their masters, and thus the vicious cycle goes on from one generation to another in the same pattern. The researchers have used the qualitative research approach, and the data were collected from ten (10) automobile workshops in Barakahu, Islamabad, through semi-structured in-depth interviews (IDIs) with the children and their masters. The findings of the research showed that children with ages ranging from 14 to 17 years, work as trainees for more than 11 hours a day, at different automobile workshops in Islamabad, where they fall victim to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. They faced abuse frequently, but they were unable to complain anywhere, as they deemed it the right of their masters to abuse them. Only a small portion of the respondents accepted the fact that, they have faced sexual abuse in addition to physical and emotional abuse. There is no such formal way through which physical and sexual abuse can be prevented. The majority of the respondents stated that as long as they are under the tutelage of the masters, they can tolerate the abuse, because masters teach them with skills and know-how. Once, they become masters themselves, they get rid of this ill-treatment. The master and some children accomplice in the abuse have a positive impact on children’s learning process, and the parents of these children also encouraged the masters to punish their offsprings during trainings, so they can become perfectly skilled and knowledgeable by the end the target period.
Sarfraz Khan, Sana Mehmood, Syed Imran Haider. (2020) Child Abuse in Automobile Workshops in Islamabad, Pakistan, Pakistan Journal of Criminology, Volume-12, Issue-1.
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