The Child Welfare Committees have asked the voluntary organisations, who are part of the crackdown on the child beggars to register 13 First Information Reports against individuals and ‘families’, who may be involved in human trafficking.
The FIRs will be registered under Section 363 A (kidnapping and maiming children for beggary) of the Indian Penal Code and 23 (punishment for cruelty to children) and 24 (forcing child to beg) of the Juvenile Justice Act.
Speaking to this newspaper, Chairperson, CWC – II ( in charge of minor girls in need of care and protection) Meena Jain said that they have screened 55 cases of child beggars so far and in many cases the ‘parents’ have failed to provide any proof of their relation to the child beggars in their custody.
“One nine-year-old girl, who was found begging at the Nagwara junction told us that she has to collect minimum Rs 200 every day to pay her ‘grandmother’ otherwise she is beaten up. The child has three school-going brothers but she has to beg to clear the family debt."
"She wants to study and has asked us not to send her home. When we summoned the ‘grandmother’ she could not provide any proof of her relationship to the child. Her ration card didn’t have the name of the girl or her ‘father’. We have asked the voluntary organisation, which had rescued the child to register an FIR against the old lady,” said Ms. Jain.
In another case a seven-year-old beggar boy told the CWC that he saw his sister being killed and the criminals stabbed him also but he survived. He joined the other beggar children to ‘earn’ his livelihood.
Member CWC-I (in charge of minor boys in need of care and protection) Basavraj said that they screened around 50 cases of child beggars and have asked for FIRs in at least four cases.
“A teenaged physically challenged boy from a very poor family has been forced to beg by a trafficker. We summoned the boy’s father, who said that he was scared to register a police complaint. A family of five children from Chattisgarh performs on the streets and begs. This is banned under the Juvenile Justice Act."
