NEW DELHI: In a bizarre incident, the Child Welfare Committees (CWC) of Delhi allegedly picked up at least 15 children from the streets, saying that they were begging, and sent them to a child care centre in Jaunapur without informing their parents. After realising that they were not beggars and had parents who look after them, some of the children were released on Saturday.
When this newspaper contacted the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), chairperson Anurag Kundu stated there might have been some miscommunication and a meeting will be held on Monday to understand what went wrong.
According to the parents of some of these children, they do not beg and study in schools. One of the parents told this newspaper that they got a call late on Friday night and was asked to collect their children from the shelter. Sher Singh, who plays drums in weddings, said his son was picked up by the CWC along with two of his cousins when they were on their way home from a public bathroom.
“We live in RK Puram and do not have a washroom. So we use public toilets. On February 1, my wife and others had taken the kids to the toilet. They asked the kids to play outside till they finished,” Sher Singh said. When his wife Pooja and the other women came out, their children were missing. People around told them that a police van had taken them away. Similar incidents were narrated by other parents, namely Vijay Kumar and Geeta Kumar, Reena Singh, Govind Bakhiya and others.
According to sources, CWC has been randomly picking up children for the last one month and sending them to shelter homes to compile data on children begging on the streets. They alleged that proper verification was not done.
The DCPCR chairperson said they are looking into the larger issue and will take action if necessary. “We are in receipt of the representation. Two of the children who were picked up last month by the CWC for begging have been sent back to their parents,” he said. “All parents were allowed to meet their children. We have a letter of meeting in the respective child’s file. Social Investigation Report (SIR) has been ordered.”
When these parents reached the nearby local police station, they were told that the children are at the Mother and Child Welfare Centre at RK Puram. When they reached there, they were told that the kids are lodged in the Kasturba Niketan, a child care centre at Lajpat Nagar and that they will get custody of the children the following day.
On January 2, when the parents, Sher Singh and Pooja, reached Kasturba Niketan at Lajpat Nagar, the officials misbehaved with them and accused them of making their children beg. Later, the parents had to call the police who mediated with the officers.
Meanwhile, again on January 3, when they approached with school documents, they were snubbed but after repeated requests they allowed them to make a video call to the children who are now in a child care centre in Jaunapur.
The parents then contacted Nirmal Gorana, convener of the National Campaign Committee for Eradication of Bonded Labour. According to him, “CWC is acting like a detention centre and their picking up of children is akin to kidnapping them. They are not accused of any crime. If CWC wants to prepare a SIR, they should go to the of the children’s homes. These children need not be rehabilitated as they are already in secure environments of their homes.”
According to Nirmal, this is a complete violation of JJB laws and the Supreme Court guidelines. According to Prashant Kumar, an advocate working with Socio Legal Information Centre, “Parents were not given any reasons or documents and were not allowed to meet them for more than 15 minutes. The CWC is acting in violation of the SOP for Care and Protection of Children in Street Situation 2.0 formulated by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) as mentioned in the SC order.”