The Gurugram Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has dealt with as many as 4,482 cases of child rights violations over the past five years, including 700-odd cases of child abuse under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the highest in Haryana.
Around 4,300 children have been rescued, rehabilitated or reunited with their families. Speaking to The Hindu , CWC chairperson Shakuntla Dhull said despite the odds, the child rights body has rescued 100-odd children trafficked from States such as West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam and recovered their wages and other 250-odd children engaged in child labour. Similarly, around 50 children have been given for adoption.
Muskaan Operation
“Over the past five years, we have reached out to around 3,000 children who had gone missing or engaged in begging and rehabilitated them or reunited them with their families. The reunion cases include three of Nepal and one each of Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia. As many as 1,066 children were united with their families, the highest in India, during Muskaan Operation in 2015 in Gurugram,” said Ms. Dhull.
Attributing the high number of POCSO cases to the rapidly increasing migrants population in the district, Ms. Dhull said the conviction rate too was very low in these cases because the accused were migrants and mostly fled after the crime. “We have worked with the administration to create awareness on this,” she said.
She, however, felt that lack of infrastructure, funds, and the indifferent attitude of the police and the civil administration were the biggest impediments in delivering on this front. Ms. Dhull recalled how she did not have an office and a four-member quorum for over two years after she assumed charge in September 2014. “I had to fight for everything from staff to funds to cooperation of the administration. But I have been able to run the show with the support of the NGOs like Shakti Vahini, My Home India and Lions Club and funds from the Corporate Social Responsibility,” she said, adding that things have now started to move in the right direction.
To ensure monthly coordination meetings with the judiciary, police and civil administration, besides formulation of guidelines for playschools, around 700 in Gurugram, were among the biggest achievements of the CWC in these years, she said.
“We make sure that visits are conducted to all Child Care Institutes twice a month to ensure implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act. Earlier there were 12 CCIs, but seven of them shut the shop after we ensured strict implementation of the law. We also opened a government home for children,” she added.
