Bengal apathetic towards child abuse and rights issues

Kolkata, Mar 11 (UNI) The government, media and the people at large are apathetic towards growing incidence of child abuse and trafficking in the State, said former Chief Justice of Calcutta and Bombay High Courts Chittotosh Mookerjee.

Releasing the report on ''Missing Children in West Bengal'' based on a survey conducted by the state wing of International NGO, Save the Children, Mr Mookerjee accused the people of being apathetic and unable to do as much as needed to ''do justice'' to these children and added, ''We get used to things that happen on a regular basis and do not give them second thoughts.

''If a thing keeps on happening on a regular basis, do we consider them as news?'' he asked and said, ''Even the people, in whose houses these children work or others who are unaware of the misfortune of these children, do not take the effort to do something, simply becuase it does not concern them.'' Pointing out that the police stations did not have sufficient manpower to tackle the menace, he said more alert and more larger force was required to deal with the racket and racketeers.

Urging the gathering here at Gorky Sadan in south Kolkata, Mr Mookerjee asked the people to help the government and the NGOs tackle the evil and the evil-doers operating within the State.

''Most of these children, who get trafficked from Delhi, UP, Karnataka and other places in the country, lived in the villages of West Bengal. They are alone in their fight towards justice and need our help,'' he reiterated.

UNI LL PL DS BST1541