NHRC notice to Bihar Chief Secy for deploying children on fields

New Delhi, Dec 13 (UNI) The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent notices to the Chief Secretary of Bihar and the District Collector of Vaishali acting on media reports that ten year old children had been deployed to drag a wooden roller in place of oxen in a village in Vaishali.

The reports had said that the father of one of the child victims had informed reporters that neither tractor nor oxen could be used in that field, belonging to one Raghuraj Prasad Singh at Shahpur village in Vaishali district, and that only children were deployed under the yoke to plough fields.

The report also said an FIR had been filed in the matter by the Labour Department under the directions of the district administration.

Raghuraj Prasad is the younger brother of Union Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.

After going through the media reports, the NHRC said it raised a serious issue of human rights violation of children. The commission directed that the press reports be forwarded to the concerned authorities for a factual report within four weeks.

UNI