Murder in Darrang

The Assam Chief Minister's personal intervention on Friday in a case of unnatural death of a girl child – strongly suspected to be gruesome murder – which had taken place at Dhula in Darrang in June, has raised a number of questions. First and foremost, it exposes the alleged slackness of the police in handling a serious case in which a young girl had allegedly committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. As has been reported in the media, the Darrang police did not even ask for custody of the accused person who is suspected to be directly involved in the death of the girl. Number two, it is a clear case of engaging an innocent child – and that, too, a girl child – as a domestic labour. This brings to the fore the functioning or non-functioning of the Labour Department as well as the child protection unit of the district. Thirdly, the organization – in this case Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a reputed security organization of the country – to which the accused person who had engaged a child labour belongs, is also to be blamed for its failure to ensure that its officers and jawans work towards protecting children and not for exploiting them. Fourthly, the various so-called social organizations and NGOs are also to be blamed for their failure to generate the kind of awareness that is required in the society towards ensuring protection of children, especially from all kinds of exploitation. Going by earlier media reports, the district of Darrang anyway does not have a good reputation in matters of child protection. There have been a number of serious allegations of child rights violation in the district in the past few years, including new-born babies going missing from maternity wards of government hospitals. The government departments concerned, NGOs and various social organizations of the adjoining district of Sonitpur must also share part of the blame because the victim belonged to a village near Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur. One cannot also leave out the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR), which has not been able to mount a vigorous campaign for protection of child rights in the state in general and in the vulnerable districts in particular. The local elected members – MPs, MLAs, panchayat members, etc., – should also be held responsible to a great extent, because there is hardly any instance in which they have been seen seriously engaging in child protection matters. This is despite the fact that the Assam Legislative Assembly has an understanding with UNICEF to carry forward in a vigorous manner the campaign for child rights and child protection. The Assam Chief Minister's personal intervention in the case on Friday, on the other hand, holds a lot of significance. One, he has brought to book the police officers who had acted in an irresponsible and lackadaisical manner in handling the incident of suspected murder of a girl child. Two, that senior police officers are not supposed to spend time in their air-conditioned office chambers, but must have their ears to the ground, especially because it was under the present Director General of Police that almost all officers of the Assam Police had undergone intensive training and orientation on child rights protection issues. Moreover, the Chief Minister has done a great service to the child rights movement in Assam by way of placing the SP and two other senior police officers of Darrang under suspension. This action of the Chief Minister has sent strong signals that violation of child rights is a serious issue and that every child has to be protected from exploitation and rights violation. One thing must be put on record that the Darrang incident is not the first case in Assam of child rights violation in which a child has lost his or her life. It was only a few months ago that a similar incident at Raha in the Nagaon district had rocked the state. In the past, there were also reports of senior government officers allegedly keeping children as domestic labourers. The Darrang incident should also serve as an eye-opener in that a large number of children continue to be engaged as labourers across the state under the very nose of the authorities. In the heart of Guwahati, NGOs engaged by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) deploy children to collect domestic garbage in different localities. In Bokakhat, and probably in all other highway towns, a number of children are engaged in the tea stalls and restaurants, with the officials concerned and agencies responsible for child protection pretending not to notice them. The 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' will remain incomplete in Assam if children continue to be engaged as labourers, whether in homes or in commercial establishments.