Terming the recent alleged recruitment of children by Maoists a “gross violation of human rights”, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday issued notices to top government and police officials of Jharkhand asking for a report within two weeks.
The NHRC said in a statement that it had taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that children living in remote areas of Jharkhand had been forcibly recruited by the Maoists. Observing that the children’s fundamental rights were being denied, the NHRC issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Director-General of Police of the state.
Police count
The NHRC asked the officials to provide information about the police’s estimate of how many children had been recruited by the Maoists; the action taken by the police and government to trace the children; the measures taken to educate and rehabilitate the children, including any policy initiatives; and the action taken against the perpetrators.
As per the report published on May 8, over 1,000 children had been kidnapped in the past few years and made to work as foot soldiers, couriers and sentries at Maoist camps.
Villages in the western districts of Jharkhand that border Maoist strongholds — Lohardaga, Gumla, Simdega and Latehar — were easy targets, with the Maoists demanding five children from each village.
The child soldiers are forced to commit brutal acts, including cutting off the ears of a thief and stripping and beating other criminals in the so-called jan adalats
