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Karnataka
Masali charged with misbehaving with girl children brought before him for inquiry KSCPCR for suspension of the member and inquiry under the Juvenile Justice Act Bangalore: In an apparent case of a person appointed to protect the rights of children himself turning an offender, a member of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) II of the Bangalore Urban district has been charged with misbehaving with girl children brought before him for inquiry. Following a complaint by an NGO to the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR), which held an inquiry with the Department and Women and Child Development, the Government has issued an order restraining the accused member, Balakrishna Masali, from holding sittings of the CWC. “The decision has been taken based on prima facie evidence that emerged from the commission's interim report,” an official of the department told The Hindu. When contacted by The Hindu, Mr. Masali denied the charges made against him. “Someone who is trying to defame me is levelling these charges,” he said. The Government Order, a copy of which is available with The Hindu, quotes the interim order of the KSCPCR stating that the accused member took “advantage of his position and used the opportunity to sexually molest the minor girls in the privacy of the cubicle.” It has recommended suspension of the member and a further inquiry under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, and relevant sections of Indian Penal Code. The incident came to light after Association for Promotion of Social Action (APSA), an NGO, took the case of a young girl employed as a domestic help to the CWC. The 14-year-old girl later complained to the NGO authorities that the member had misbehaved with her during the 30-minute counselling session. On further inquiry, the NGO learnt that a few more girls lodged in the government-run girls' home had also gone through similar experiences. APSA then lodged a complaint with the commission, which in turn recorded the statements of four girls with whom the CWC member had allegedly misbehaved. It also recorded the statements of the care-takers of the girls' home. No quorum While there were already complaints about second unit of CWC functioning without a quorum with a lone member for about a month now, this shocking incident brings the functioning of the second unit of CWC to a virtual halt. It raises larger systemic questions on how a single member, a male at that, had been allowed to hold sittings on cases of young girls. It may be mentioned here that a second unit of CWC for Bangalore Urban had been set up to exclusively focus on infants (0 to 6 years) and girls aged between 6 and 18, in August 2007. The primary objective of the CWC set up under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, is to inquire into child rights violations, and care and protection of children.
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