Crime Patrol: New life sought for Delhi's rescued beggar kids (Episode 322, 323 on 20th - 21st Dec 2013)

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The Inside Story

New Delhi : A leading rights activist has demanded the immediate rehabilitation of 13 children rescued by an NGO from goons who used to force them to beg near the diplomatic quarter in the capital.



The children are now living in a juvenile home and their case will be dealt under the Juvenile Justice Act.



But Kailash Satyarthi of Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (BBA), which freed the children, told IANS that the case should be taken up under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act that will entitle them rehabilitation benefits.

He said it was necessary to provide the kids, whose age ranges from seven to 16, a new life, failing which they would return to the drudgery of begging.



Wearing torn clothes and misery stamped all over them, the children were rescued from south Delhi's Moti Bagh area last week, thanks to BBA activists.



Satyarthi said: "The children have been placed with the Child Welfare Committee and are in a juvenile home. They are treated under the juvenile law, which is complicated. We would rather that they are treated under the bonded labour law, which will entitle them to rehabilitation.



"After all rehabilitation is very important to ensure that they are not swept back into the vicious cycle of child labour. The bonded labour law would give the child's family a sum of Rs.20,000-25,000 and also lead to criminal charges against people who forced them into labour."



Although the BBA had identified 20 children as beggars at Moti Bagh, they could rescue only 13 as those running the racket managed to take away the rest. Of those rescued, seven were girls and six boys.



"When we conducted the raid, we realised that we were being watched by the goons who had forced the children into begging. The goons made the rest run away," Satyarthi said.



Shanti, one of the rescued children, said she hails from Ajmer in Rajasthan and was brought to New Delhi by a woman three years ago.



"I came here when I was seven years old with a woman called Kali. She used to come to my village every day and talk to my mother. One day my mother told me to pack my bags to go to Delhi with her.



"So with seven other children from my village I came here. I was forced to tear my clothes and not bathe for months so that I could look miserable and could get more money from passers-by. We were given food only once a day so that we looked thin and malnourished," she said.



The children said that not only were they forced to beg from eight in the morning to 11 at night but also beaten every day. They were also given a kind of tobacco called 'gul' to survive harsh environmental conditions and beatings.



Seven-year-old Suraj, the youngest child rescued in the raid, is mentally unstable. Therefore, despite wanting to go home, he is unable to recall where he came from.



"I was made to beg on different traffic signals by Tony and he used to beat me a lot as I could not complete the target of earning Rs.300 per day.



"People from whom I ask for money are very rich as their cars are huge in size. I also want to be like them - rich and strong," said Suraj.



Thanks To:

http://twocircles.net/2008mar01/new_life_sought_delhis_rescued_beggar_kids.html

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Crime Patrol: Boy run over, father tracks down 'killer' driver (Episode 320 on 13 Dec 2013)

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PART 2







The Inside Story

NEW DELHI: Rakesh Singh a Gurgaon-based industrial consultant who spends half the month working in Saudi Arabia had big plans for his 16-year-old son, Akshay. He wanted to groom the 6.4ft-tall boy as a national-level swimmer while Akshay had always thought of joining the defence services. Both dreams were crushed as a speeding truck loaded with 45 tonnes of illegal mining material ran over Akshay last May during a marriage procession in Bijnor city. And what followed was a father's lone battle to bring to book his son's killer as well as stir the conscience of an apathetic state.



At a time when the jury is still out on whether hit-and-run cases should be taken at par with murder, this incident is a pointer to how scores of innocent lives are lost at the hands of merciless truckers driving without valid licences.

"I was dancing and suddenly the band stopped playing. When I asked what was wrong I was told a speeding truck had hit my son and another person in the Baraat. I could recognize Akshay only from his shirt. His face was smashed,'' recollected Singh, whose wife and daughter are inconsolable.



When the police failed to pursue his case beyond filing the FIR even after repeated requests, Singh took it upon himself to catch the accused driver. He did everything from eating at roadside dhabas where trucks stopped to even hitch-hiking. For more than a week, Singh stalled all his work and travelled in trucks plying in Bijnor. "The local police said they could not trace the truck. So I spent days eating at different dhabas to find the truck and driver responsible for my son's death. I interacted with many truckers and was shocked to hear what they said. They had no sympathy or sense of guilt for crushing innocents to death under their wheels. Many, I found, did not have a valid driving licence. Now, I also know that they obtain licences just by paying Rs 100,'' he said.



Singh eventually found success besides the details of the driver and truck, he recovered documented proof on how the driver had violated all norms by carrying more than the permitted load of 15 tonnes. "How is it that the state machinery could not do what I alone managed? The government is responsible for ensuring that drivers have a valid licence and also for checking if vehicles are overloaded. But they don't enforce the law even as thousands of innocents die on the roads. Are they not responsible for these deaths?'' asked Singh adding, "I did not want Akshay's death to go in vain.''



Driver Ravinder Kumar was arrested by Bijnor police a month later in June and was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court. Bijnor SP Raj Kumar told Times City, "After finding there was laxity during the initial investigation, I suspended the investigating officer of this case. His promotion has been stalled for the next five years a huge financial loss to the cop. We arrested the driver and the transporter. As this is a bailable offence, they are now out of the jail.''



It has been four months since the death of the Class X student of Scholar's Home, Dehradun, and his family is still learning to cope with the irreparable loss. "I want to prosecute the state for its failures. Everyone tells us to forget what happened, but is it that easy? My family breaks down every night,'' Singh said.



Thanks To:

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-10-07/delhi/28079488_1_killer-driver-akshay-truck

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Crime Patrol: Indian orphan forced to marry UAE national in Kerala (Episode 319, 320 on 6th, 7th Nov 2013)

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PART 2







The Inside Story

Indian authorities are investigating the alleged forced marriage between an orphaned teenage girl and a UAE national who secretly fled the country two weeks later, local media have reported.

The underage marriage has sparked fury in Kerala, the province where the girl lived, with the Democratic Youth Federation of India reportedly staging a siege and demanding the girl’s orphanage be shutdown.

The 17-year-old girl claims she agreed to the marriage only after being coerced by orphanage authorities.

The State Human Rights Commission has ordered an investigation.

"The director general of police and the state social welfare board have been asked to find out what has happened and give a report on how a foreign national could enter into a marriage," commission member KE Gangadharan was quoted as saying by local TV station NDTV.

"Such a thing should not have happened because it appears the girl and her mother were misled by someone."

The girl said she married the UAE man on June 13 and he sexually exploited her before suddenly leaving the country 13 days later.

Police said the man’s father also is an Arab but his mother is from Kerala.



Thanks To:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/indian-orphan-forced-marry-uae-national-in-kerala-515276.html

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