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Thursday, May 12, 2005

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AIDWA condemns attack

Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has expressed shock and horror over the violent attack on Shakuntala Verma. . While the most stringent punishment has to be accorded to the criminals, the fact is that it is a recent Madhya Pradesh Government order which has directly made anganwadi employees the most vulnerable targets of those in favour of child marriage, the AIDWA vice-president, Brinda Karat said in a statement issued here on Wednesday. In a perverted understanding of responsibilities, the Madhya Pradesh Government issued an order on May 7 making anganwadi workers answerable for child marriages. First of all, this is not the job of an anganwadi worker, it is the job of the Collector, the police and the elected representatives of the area, including the Bharatiya Janata Party Government.

Secondly, the worker has no status to counter powerful rural elites and castes who support child marriage and who are often given patronage by the ruling party. "It is the vulnerability of the anganwadi employee which was so brutally exploited in the attack on Shakuntala,'' the statement said, adding that it was even more shameful that the Government officials had tried to shield the culprits by spreading the lie that the "dispute'' between the two had nothing to do with child marriage.

Condemning the incident, AIDWA has demanded immediate withdrawal of the order responsible for the incident and also immediate arrest of the criminals.

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