NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday informed the Parliament that Maoists and terror groups may be using children in their operations. “There are reports about some terrorist outfits in the country, such as the Maoists, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, are misusing children to further their agenda,” said Union Home Minister for State Kiren Rijiju.
In the Left-Wing Extremism-affected states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar, there were reports that “some groups use children in their nefarious designs to destabilise the state”, the minister said during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
However, the Home Ministry said there is no information that children were being used as human bombs by them. Union Home Minister for State Hansraj Gangaram Ahir also responded to a similar question posed by parliamentarian KVP Ramachandra Rao who wanted to know if children were being forcibly recruited into antisocial armed groups.