VIJAYAWADA: Childline authorities have rescued 359 children during raids and rescue operations from April to October in Krishna district. As many as 75 of them were found working as child labourers in harsh conditions. The authorities prevented 20 cases of child marriages and rescued five from sexual abuse and 14 from atrocities.
Between April and March this year, the regional unit dealt with 1,137 cases related to children and rescued as many as 306 minors from abuse, child labour and child marriage.
While the unit dealt with 147 rescue cases in total this year, an expert says that the number of cases of atrocities against children being registered may be far less as compared to the actual violations taking place in the district.
Speaking to TNIE, BVS Kumar, Chairman of Krishna district Child Welfare Committee, says: “Majority of cases related to children are not even registered due to political influences, misuse of power, social stigma etc. In fact, village-level child protection committees have been formed which is yet to go active. These committees will work to identify the problem at its root level instead of rescuing minors later.”
To mark this year’s Children’s Day, the Forum for Child Rights and Women and Child Welfare Department will be jointly conducting week-long programmes with the theme ‘Child Rights Convention (CRC) and Childline se dosti’.
As part of it, ‘prachara rathams’ that will work to educate the public on rights given by the constitution to the children will be launched on November 14.
Child protection committees formed
Between April 2017 and March 2018, 307 children were rescued by the Krishna district unit of Childline dealt with 1,137 cases and rescued 306 minors.
In 2018, it dealt with 507 cases related to them
75 rescued children, below the age of 14, were subjected to child labour
5 children sex victims were rescued