Members of the Karnataka State Child Rights Commission (KCPCR), who went for a spot inquiry into the incident at Bagalur where an 18-month-old toddler was mauled to death by dogs on Wednesday, were shocked to learn that another child had died at the same site 15 days ago.
Commission Chairperson Nina Nayak told The Hindu the commission would inquire into both the deaths, the earlier one of a 12-year-old girl, with the help of two non-governmental agencies. The girl is suspected to have died of snake bite.
Suspected child labour
“There are 13 families working there and there are close to 25 to 30 children, some of whom seemed to have been working there,” said Ms. Nayak.
She said that the condition of workers there was “shocking” without even minimum facilities such as electricity and water. “The houses are without doors and even the walls of huts are simply bricks piled on top of each other,” she said.
“We are waiting for the post-mortem reports, expected in a couple of days, because some of the reports are contradictory,” said Ms. Nayak.
During its visit to the Venkateshwara Brick Kiln factory, the Commission members met the family of 18-month-old Prashant and received conflicting information on the cause of the death.
No crèches
The Commission also took note of the fact that there were 13 Oriya families living there with about 30 children for the last three months, but there were no crèche services.
