The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A charity act that went awry

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Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A charity act that went awry

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: This is an instance of the police goofing up even while trying to play good Samaritans.

Seven children aged between nine and 15, all hailing from Rajasthan, were caught by the Indiranagar police last week while they were begging pretending to be school-going children in need of help.

The police produced them before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and after an inquiry, were lodged in the State-run boys’ and girls’ homes. CWC members later discovered in the course of their interaction with the seven children that the police had taken away the money which was with them when they were caught. This fact had not been revealed to the CWC by the police. They later learnt that the police had not pocketed the money, but had given the money away in charity to a school.

Chairperson of CWC Vasudeva Sharma told The Hindu that they have now asked the police to recover the money and return it by the next sitting of the commission.

When the contacted by The Hindu the police said that they had recovered Rs. 5,095 from the children and had donated it to a school for the blind recognised by the Government. “This was done to teach a lesson to the children so that they desist from begging,” a policeman said. He said they even had a receipt of the donation made.

Mr. Sharma, however, said that the police, who had done the right thing in immediately producing the children before the Commission, had no authority to give away the money as donation.

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