While rights activists were celebrating ‘International Day of the Girl Child’ across the globe and officials speaking about the girl child rights on October 11, confidential information about more than 200 minor girls rescued from different parts of the State and produced before the Krishna Child Welfare Committee (CWC) allegedly leaked.
Members of the CWC were shocked when they reportedly noticed a 229-page printed book with the photographs and profiles of the children in the office. The data of the children produced and referred to the Child Care Institutions (CCIs) should be either with the CWC or the CCI in the shape of forms and kept in the files or in the official computer database, but not to be printed. ‘‘This indicates that the data had gone out of the office for printing, which is not acceptable, as there may be a breach of the data,’‘ child rights activists felt.
Under Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, disclosure of names and details of the Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP) is prohibited.
“CWCs were established by the government under Section 27 of JJ Act, to look after the welfare of CNCP. The victims of child labour, minor marriage, sexual abuse, and rescued minors in various cases and runaway children are produced before the committee, which refers them to childcare homes. If there is no protection for children in CWCs, where else will they get protection?” questioned a child rights activist.
The Krishna CWC Chairperson, K. Suvartha, said the data of the rescued minor girls along with their photographs, family details and the case particulars were found in a printed spiral book on October 11. “We have informed the higher officials on the leakage of the data,” she added.
NTR District Collector S. Dilli Rao told The Hindu that an inquiry by a Sub-Collector, would be ordered into the alleged data leakage.
“A thorough inquiry would be conducted on how the confidential data leaked from the CWC and whether the information was passed to any one outside,” the Collector said.
