Child Rights Body Orders Probe Over Alleged Conversion Of 3 Madhya Pradesh Children

The national child rights body has come across the "religious conversion" of at least three children who are inmates of a state-aided care centre in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district.

In a tweet, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chiarperson Priyank Kanoongo has directed the local administration to register a case against the manager of the care centre for allegedly converting three children and preparing documents of their new names and religion.

"During the inspection of the child care centre in Raisen (Saturday), it has come to light that its manager has changed the religion of three children and their names are changed.

"In documents too, their names have been changed. The issue of conversion is a serious matter. The district administration has been directed to register a case against Haseen Parvez," he tweeted.

When contacted, a police officer said Raisen Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has the judicial power regarding the three children- two girls aged 4 and 8 and a boy aged 11- staying at the care centre, located at Gouharganj in Raisen.

"How can we register a case by overstepping CWC which has the power as a (judicial) bench given it has been constituted under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015? "The (NCPCR) should come forward to lodge a complaint with us against the centre's manager," he said The officer said the three children were found begging in Bhopal in December 2019 by child helpline personnel and CWC, Bhopal, was informed.

"The Bhopal CWC, after following the procedure, handed over these children to the Raisen CWC as the children spoke about their association with Mandideep area in Raisen district," he added.

When contacted, Women and Child Development Department's Raisen District Programme Officer Deepak Sankat said they will investigate the matter and act accordingly.

He said the WCD department officials, CWC members and authorities visit childcare centres regularly.

According to police sources, a man from Damoh had visited the care centre claiming he was the father of the three children.

"When asked about his wife, he returned with a woman and said they are parents of the children. However, the investigation revealed that the man has a wife and children who live in Damoh," they added.

Police suspect the man had lodged a complaint with Mr Kanoongo on a flimsy ground following which the latter visited the care centre.

Raisen CWC chairperson Atul Dubey couldn't be contacted even after repeated calls.

Bhopal CWC chairperson Jagriti Singh said she took the charge only last year and didn't have any knowledge about the case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)