Child rights group raids placement agency in Srinagar in missing MP boy’s case

Srinagar, May 23: A child rights protection group in Srinagar on Tuesday raided a placement agency in connection with the missing of a 17-year-old boy from Madhya Pradesh.
A senior member of the Child Welfare Committee, Srinagar, Beenish said that acting upon a specific complaint received through a mail on Tuesday morning about the missing boy, they raided a placement agency in Srinagar’s Rambagh area where they came to know that the boy was placed for domestic work at a government official’s residence.
“We received an email communication regarding the missing 17-year-old boy from Madhya Pradesh today morning and during our inquiry, we came to know that the missing minor boy has been placed at the residence of some government official,” she said.
We are in contact with the father of the missing boy as he has been told by the agency and the person who had taken him that his missing son will be handed over to him at Jammu, Beenish said.
“Although the placement agency is registered with the J&K Labour Department; as of now, we have seized their records for the purpose of inquiry,” the CWC member said.
She said that upon receiving such complaints, they take cognisance of the matter and initiate inquiries. “Then we start tracing the parents or guardians for the repatriation process,” she said.
Beenish said the Child Welfare Committee, which works under the Mission Vatsaliya, files cases against the accused involved in the trafficking of minors.
Earlier in the day, a video went viral on social media in which the members of the child rights group were seen asking the placement agency for documents as well as claiming that the child had called for help to get him released from the residence of a government official where he was taken as a domestic helper.
Meanwhile, we tried to reach out to the placement agency for comments, but there was no reply to the repeated calls.
Mission Vatsalya scheme is a roadmap to achieve development and child protection priorities aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The scheme lays emphasis on child rights, advocacy, and awareness along with strengthening the juvenile justice care and protection system with the motto to ‘leave no child behind’.
The scheme is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in partnership with State governments and UT administrations to support the States and UTs in universalising access and improving the quality of services across the country.