Pune: Panel alleges violation of rights in minors' rescue

PUNE: A recent Pune police action in Budhwar Peth area has kicked up a storm. In the 10-hour raid on the night of Feb 10, at least 500 police personnel combed 41 buildings and questioned hundreds, before 'rescuing' four minors. They were later sent to a care facility by the Child Welfare Committee.

A single mother, also a commercial sex worker, said the police barged into her house in Budhwar Peth at 1am last month and took away her minor daughter.

"They did not allow my 14-year-old daughter to wear her slippers or change out of her nightclothes. She was kept at the police station overnight and the next morning, under the garb of an investigation, uniformed personnel took her to her school while the classes were on. She is a gold medallist in karate, once felicitated by the police. She is now traumatised, thinking about how her classmates and teachers will look at her when they learn about me," she said.

Meena Seshu from National Network of Sex Workers, Manisha Gupte, founder of Masum NGO, Sayali Atre, child rights advocate from Let's Play Trust, and Vidya Kulkarni, an independent journalist, formed an independent fact-finding committee to look into the police operation. They work for the welfare of these women.

The panel found that the police had not adhered to child protection protocols, compromised the dignity and privacy of the children. At a press conference on Wednesday, Seshu said, "We found that the police's claims are false and action must be taken against the police personnel who violated child rights."

Gupte said, "The police found seven grams of charas and two women suspected of being Bangladeshis. Was the so-called 'rescue' of minors taken up to justify this raid that hardly yielded anything?" Atre said disclosing the identity of the minors is gross negligence.

Seshu said CWC denied the women custody of their daughters stating they are single women and the living environment is dangerous. "If that is the case, children at traffic signals and from riot-affected areas, should also be put in childcare homes because they are living in dangerous conditions," she added.

The mother told TOI that her daughter and her best friend's child, who is in her care, want to return. "They don't like the food in the facility which has bedbugs and rats. The people in the care home want me to find a house outside this area before they allow both to come back. All four girls are distressed. I am a sex worker because I have no choice. I am educating the two girls so that they have opportunities in life. I will never force them to follow me."

However, the police said they followed due legal process. "All actions taken were according to law. We stand by safeguarding children's rights and rescuing them from such a hazardous environment," Krushikesh Rawale, deputy commissioner of police (zone 1), said.

A police officer, on the condition of anonymity, said they had credible evidence about wrongdoing.

"The law says that the children can't be kept in a building where there is prostitution. Secondly, if there was nothing wrong, why didn't the protesters allow a medical examination of the girls? They will connive with NGOs to get the girls back. We followed CWC guidelines when we took them to school," he said.

Seshu said examination of minors is physically and mentally traumatizing.