Delhi Girl Fakes Kidnapping Fearing Parents' Anger: Can We Go Little Easy On Kids?

Earlier this week, a 14-year-old girl claimed she was kidnapped and molested by three boys in northeast Delhi's Bhanjanpura. However, it has come to light that the girl fabricated the entire story. Apparently, the girl was scared that her parents would scold her because she did not perform well in her social science exam. Though at first glance, it might seem like it’s the girl’s fault, is it really?

If she could make up such a horrific story, fearing her parents' wrath for not performing well at her exam, it is her parents who should be held accountable. Why was she so terrified of her own parents? On March 15, the girl alleged that three boys had abducted her from near the school and tried to physically assault her.

The police discovered through CCTV footage that the girl had been roaming alone and that no such incident had taken place at the time and place she mentioned. After counselling and a medical examination, the girl revealed that she had injured herself and cooked up this story to escape from her parents' scolding.

Delhi Girl Fakes Being Molested

Claiming to have been sexually assaulted isn’t a joke, neither to the authorities nor to the people involved. However, if the girl had gone to the extent of making up such a twisted story, her parents’ anger must have really petrified her. However, for a second I want to say parenting is a very hard job, and no parent is bad. With that being said, sometimes anger can get the best of us. The social pressure of raising children to achieve in this competitive world can be stressful for parents.

For ages, parents have believed that authoritative parenting, corporal punishment, and disrespecting the personal space and boundaries of children are the right ways to raise good children. The truth is, all this does is create a huge wedge in the parent-child relationship.

The more strict a parent is, the more the child pulls away from them. The more a parent punishes their children, the more rebellious they tend to become. And that is what has happened in this case. The girl's parents probably put undue pressure on her academic performance. It is possible that they punished her, physically or verbally assaulted her, or emotionally manipulated her to make her claim to have been molested. But parenting is hard and cannot justify whatever the minor has been going through to cook up such a precarious story.

Children with strict parents tend to be psychologically affected. They gradually develop stress and anxiety and slide into depression, which can be life-threatening. Or they could become rebellious, aggressive, and even sinister. Home is supposed to be a safe place for children, and parents are supposed to be the people they are most comfortable with. However, how many households have a true understanding and supportive parents?

Most parents, despite their love for their children, fail to display affection. Indian parents also don’t understand the concept of respectful parenting. They might be your children, but they are individuals on their own, and it’s high time parents start accepting that. We might not have had the model childhood, or we might have been trained to be authoritative to children. The times have changed, and so should we.

The more abusive or toxic parents are, the more children are going to look at them as abusers or tyrants, ruining the parent-child bond completely. As children become more distant from their parents, they might get involved in wrong activities like substance abuse, inappropriate sexual behaviour, criminal activities, etc. This case is a classic example of how strict parenting ends up ruining a child’s life.

Parents need to understand that children don’t owe them anything. It is the duty of parents to give their children a good life and raise them the right way through respectful parenting. Many of us might not have a great relationship with our parents, but do we want the same to happen between us and our kids? Being a friendly parent will help guide children down the right path in life. Where will children go if parents don't do that for them? I hope the minor girl's parents might have got their lesson, and go easy on her. So that she doesn't pull off any such serious stunts.

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