Gang using children, infants as beggars in Guwahati

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Children with ragged clothes, or no clothes at all, begging for alms at bus stations, railway stations etc., is a common sight in the city. It is also quite common to see infants sleeping on the footpaths besides women who are ostensibly their mothers/aunts/grandmothers. Many a benevolent person gives alms to such children or to the guardians of infants sleeping on the footpaths.

However, it has come to light that most of the child beggars and sleeping infants are part of an organized racket which is operated by some women have come to Assam from other States.

According to sources in the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR), they are quite concerned over this issue. The ASCPRC had requested the police to look into the matter back in 2019. However, the police seems to have paid little attention to the matter and stated that no evidence of wrong-doing had been found, the sources said.

The sources said that most of the infants seen sleeping on the pavements are actually doing so because they have been given soporific substances. Moreover, the women posing as their guardians are actually not relatives, but members of the gang who use infants and children to garner sympathy by way of alms. Most of these children and infants are housed in shanties located beside the railway tracks, the sources said. The sources further said that when the children start getting older, they are given training in theft, picking pockets etc.

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