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“How many more Nitharis will it take for Uttar Pradesh to act?”

Anita Joshua

The Minister will write to Mayawati on missing children

U.P. has reported maximum number of cases of missing children
I am not politicising issue of child rights, says Renuka Chowdhury

NEW DELHI: Taking serious note of reports of 50 children missing from Noida and Ghaziabad, Union Minister of State for Women & Child Development Renuka Chowdhury on Thursday wanted to know what it would take to “jog the Uttar Pradesh government out of its slumber.” She plans to write to Chief Minister Mayawati about the missing children.

“How many more ‘Nitharis’ will it take for the U.P. government to act,” Ms. Chowdhury said referring to the discovery of the skulls and bones of a number of missing children in the village on the outskirts of the village on the outskirts of Noida.

“Mechanisms inadequate”

The Minister was briefing journalists after the second meeting of the experts panel looking into specific violations of child rights by the police investigating the murder of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar in Noida.

Quoting from information provided by the State government in response to her letter seeking details on the status of children in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Chowdhury said mechanisms — mandated by the Juvenile Justice Act — were not in place. Only 17 of the 71 districts had Juvenile Justice Boards.

Only 10 Child Welfare Committees had been set up, while the Act mandates one for every district. And, even these did not have enough members.

Stating that Uttar Pradesh reported the maximum number of cases of missing children, the Minister lamented that the State was yet to have a Child Rights Commission.

Maintaining that she was not trying to politicise the issue of child rights — as has been made out by the Chief Minister — Ms. Chowdhury said: “Mayawatiji is a wonderful administrator and I request her to give priority attention to the welfare of women and children in her State.”

As for the Aarushi murder case, she said mere transfer of three police officials was not enough punishment for character assassination of the teenager.

“They should be suspended at least,” she said replying to questions.

Media criticised

Earlier at the meeting, participants spoke about filing a public interest litigation petition against the police and the media in a bid to evolve guidelines for investigating and reporting child murders.

Requests action

The media came in for particular criticism and the Ministry plans to write to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry requesting action against some channels for the nature of their coverage.

Another suggestion pertained to the curriculum of police training academies. The dominant view was that the Women & Child Development Ministry should, in consultation with women activists and lawyers, evolve a module and send it to the Home Ministry for consideration.

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