The National Commission of Protection of Child Rights has issued a notice to the Rajasthan government and Director General of Police, Rajasthan Police seeking a response from them regarding the arrest of an activist and harassment of minor kids by the state police officers.
In a scathing letter, NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo said that the commission received a complaint against the illegal apprehension of an activist Bawi Singh, a mother of two minor children, by the police officers of Crime Branch, namely Maan Singh Rathod and Sanjay Chaudhary, under the direction of Jaipur Crime Branch DCP Satyapal Yadav.
@NCPCR_ has issued a notice to @jaipurpolice @PoliceRajasthan and @ashokgehlot for harassing me and my kids under fake charges and sort report within 3 days. Thank you very much NCPCR for the prompt action.@noconversion @legalLRO pic.twitter.com/Pg1qasvrp6
— Bawi Singh (@BawiSingh) June 26, 2021
Activist Bawi Singh, who tweets under the Twitter handle @BawiSingh to highlight the illegal conversion activities, was recently arrested by the Jaipur police recently based on a complaint filed by one Poonam Chand Bhandari.
In response to the arrest, NCPCR, in its letter to the Rajasthan government, said the activist had written a letter to the commission alleging targetted harassment by the Jaipur police and collision with the complainant to illegally detain her for spreading awareness against the conversion activities across the country.
The child rights commission said that the arrest was not only a violation of the rights of the activist but also affected her two children, who were deprived of safety and security by their mother’s detention. The commission said that such arrest and the resultant harassment is a violation of child rights under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and also the fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
“Further such deprivation of safety and security of children exposes them to numerous abuse and exploitation of their vulnerabilities such as trafficking, etc.,” said the NCPCR in its letter.
In regards to the same, the NCPCR has asked the DGP, Rajasthan Police, to conduct an enquiry on the harassment meted out to the anti-conversion activist and send the report in the next three days.
Note: An earlier version of the report said that Bawi Singh tweets from both @BawiSingh and @noconversion Twitter accounts. But she only tweets from the former, and is an admin of a group under the @noconversion account
