Notice by rights panel to admin, seeks girl’s rehab

The Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) also issued a notice to the area station house officer seeking action

The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Wednesday issued notice to the district magistrate in Dwarka, seeking the rehabilitation of a 10-year-old girl who working as a domestic help and calling for action against her employers who allegedly tortured her.

The girl was employed by a family living on the second floor of a Dwarka Sector 8 house. (Vipin Kumar/ HT Photo)

The Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) also issued a notice to the area station house officer seeking action.

The girl was rescued by her family on Wednesday, and NCPCR has issued a separate notice to the district magistrate, seeking updates on the medical status of the victim and compensation to her.

“In such cases, the rescued child is sent to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for psychological assessment and physical examination, after which the child is sent to the family. We need to ensure that the child is taken care of, and due process has been followed by the police,” said Ranjana Prasad, the Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) officiating chairman.

According to the mandate by the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005, a rescued child needs to be restored with their family at the earliest, and any backlog of wages has to be compensated for. The counselling is expected to continue even after the child is with the family.

Since minors cannot be employed, the child is also entitled to a compensation of ₹30,000 under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.

The Delhi Police said that the CWC has reviewed the girl’s condition. “The girl has been sent to a shelter home for now till all the medical and psychological evaluation is done,” said a police officer.

Officials said that cases of employment of children as domestic help have been on the rise, especially as there is no regulation of informal placement agencies in Delhi-NCR.

“There are hundreds of cases where children are rescued from homes where they were beaten and abused by families that employ them, even by those who are well-educated. There are thousands of placement agencies working in Delhi-NCR but these are not regulated, despite us raising a concern multiple times,” said NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanungo.

According to data shared by DCPCR, the panel has facilitated the rescue of 778 children in 2020-21 (336) and 2021-22 (442), a sharp rise from the 202 children rescued from across Delhi-NCR in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Delhi Police, meanwhile, said they had rescued 136 children over the last year.

The children were rescued from different places such as factories, bakery units, kharat machine units, and auto centre units, as well as residential colonies where the children were working as domestic help.

The non-payment of minimum wage to these children, along with inordinate long working hours, and unhygienic working conditions emerged as common patterns in most of the cases, according to the data.

Experts said that the authorities and NGOs need to work with these children after their rescue to ensure that they get a better future.

“We estimate that there are about 500,000 street children in Delhi living across various slums. Many work as child labourers, and there is a need to support them and make them aware about getting education,” said Sanjay Gupta, director of the NGO CHETNA.