NHRC notice to Jharkhand over abduction of 1,000 kids -Governance Now

NHRC notice to Jharkhand over abduction of 1,000 kids

More than a thousand children have reportedly been abducted over the past few years and deployed as foot soldiers, couriers and sentries around Maoists' camps in Jharkhand

GN Bureau | May 24, 2017

#NHRC #national human rights commission #children #Jharkhand

The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the Jharkhand government and sought a report over 1,000 children being reportedly abducted and recruited by Maoists over the past few years.

The commission cited a news article and said that it brings forth the stark reality of the vulnerability of the children in the remote areas of Jharkhand, who are dragged into Maoist cadre and their lives are ruined. The children are denied fundamental rights, including their right to education. The issues raised in the article are gross violation of the human rights of the children said a press release.

The commission has given two weeks to the state government to respond.

The rights panel wants to know the police estimate of actual number of children who have been recruited in the Maoists cadre in Jharkhand and what action has been taken by the administration/police to trace such children and re-integrate them with the main stream of the society.

It also sought to know the measures taken to educate and rehabilitate such children and what action has been taken against the persons, who are involved in dragging the innocent children into the Maoists' cadre and coercing them to carry out illegal activities.

According to the news article published on May 8, more than thousand children have been abducted over the past few years and deployed as foot soldiers, couriers and sentries around Maoists' camps in Jharkhand.

Children from Lohardaga, Gumla, Latehar and Simdega, the western districts of the state, bordering the Maoist strongholds in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, are easy prey. In some districts Maoists ask for five children from every village. The villagers have no option but to give in.

Child soldiers are reportedly made to chop off a thief's ears or strip offenders naked and cane them. The recruits are initiated into violence through execution of brutal punishments pronounced in the Maoists' jan adalats. Female victims experienced sexual abuse by the Maoists.

It was also reported that the police have taken some initiative. The Lohardaga and Gumla police have got some of the rescued children admitted in schools. But, most victims stare at an uncertain future.

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