The Raha case

What happened at Raha, a small town in central Assam on Thursday is highly condemnable. A 12-year old girl hailing from a poor tribal family engaged as a child labour in a family at Raha died of severe burn injuries in her employer's house; it is suspected to be a murder. According to media reports, the girl's parents are from a village in West Karbi Anglong, and that they have alleged that the girl had not been allowed to go home since she was engaged as a domestic help by a family at Raha about four years ago. If this be true, the girl must have been sent to work as a domestic help at the age of eight. This, however, is not an isolated incident of the kind. There have been several such incidents across Assam in the past few years, in which girls and women working as domestic helps have been victims of unnatural deaths. What is most alarming is that in most cases the employers – or the accused – are 'educated' and well-to-do people. In a few incidents the accused were even gazetted officers of the Assam government, who should have been working towards eradication of child labour in the society. While Thursday's incident requires a thorough fast-track investigation followed by speedy delivery of justice by the judiciary, a quick survey is also required to be carried out to detect and rescue all children who have been engaged as domestic help – child labour – across the state. The Social Welfare and Labour departments of the Government of Assam – both steeped in corruption – need to be pulled up for failing to perform their basic duty of protecting children. The Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR), which used to be very proactive till a few years ago, has practically become defunct and appears to be on the verge of being closed down. The government departments concerned once in a while do rescue a few children, but no criminal procedure is drawn against the employers – violators of children rights – for reasons best known to the officers concerned. As far as West Karbi Anglong is concerned, there are reports that a number of children belonging to the poor tribal families from the villages are engaged as domestic labour in numerous families in Sonapur, Khetri, Dimoria, Jagiroad, Dharamtul, Raha, and Morigaon etc. If such reports are true, then Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council owes an explanation, because it has failed to address the basic issues of poverty alleviation, free and compulsory primary education, eradication of child labour, and protection of rights of children in the Karbi hills.