ASCPCR demands protection of child victims of violence

Guwahati: The Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) has sought transfer of children who lost their parents in the latest spell of violence in the Bodoland Territorial Administered Districts (BTAD) to the State Homes for Children immediately.
The Commission after visiting violence-affected families has also asked the Baksa District administration to provide the actual number of such orphans for further action.
Of the 498 persons who have taken shelter in a relief camp at Narayanguri in Baksa district following the brutal attack on Khagrabari village by unidentified armed militants on May 2, as many as 200 are children.
The Commission has also urged Assam government to ensure that the children affected by the latest wave of violence in the BTAD continue their studies by providing them free books from the Sarva Siksha Abhijan (SSA) and taking steps to send them to schools immediately.
In its report to Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, after visiting the violence-affected families of a relief camp at Narayanguri under Govardhan Police Station in Baksa District, ASCPCR Chairperson Runumi Gogoi also recommended that local administration take immediate steps to provide safe drinking water and nutritious food to children, especially those in the age group of 0-6 years. She informed that out of the 200 minors at the camp, 85 are in the age group of 0-6 years. The relief camp houses 498 people.
Meanwhile, of the 45 bodies recovered so far in the latest conflagration in the BTAD, 14 were of children, while 10 are still being reported as missing. The missing children are from NK Khagrabari, Narsignbari and Narayanguri villages under Govardhan Police Station in Baksa District.
The ASCPCR has asked Baksa Deputy Commissioner (DC) Vindo Sesenk to put the missing cases of children under the Child Tracking System so that they can be tracked effectively by various Government agencies. The Commission also intimated to the DC about the UNICEF’s keenness to provide psycho-social counselling to all those children affected by violence in Baksa.