more-in A three-year-old girl found abandoned by her mother on a desolate road near Melumalai in Shoolagiri was handed back to her family by the police, reportedly without bringing on board the Child Welfare Committee, as mandated under the Juvenile Justice Act. Little Monasri was found abandoned and crying on a desolate road to Balakundraya Durgam village near Melumalai, by a local. The girl was taken to the village, from where the Village Assistant of Melumalai was informed. A WhatsApp message along with the video of the girl stating the name of her mother and father was circulated, which later helped trace the girl’s family to Thanamangalam in Berigai. Monasri’s maternal grandfather alerted the family. WhatsApp message According to the Shoolagiri police station, Monasri’s parents Anitha and Anjappa married five years ago. But Anita left home for an extramarital relationship, taking Monasri along with her five months ago. The family had not heard from the mother since then, according to the police. Muniappa arrived with the identity proof and the child was handed over to him in the presence of the Village Assistant of Melumalai. Any child in need of care and protection should be produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which will ascertain the care and safety needs of the child. However, the Child Welfare Committee was blind-sided, when it first heard of the incident on a news channel. According to Vincent Sunderaraj, Chairman, CWC, the police did not inform the CWC. “The police did not even inform their own Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) in the Superintendent of Police’s office, and the AHTU staff called me to ask about the incident. This is despite the training programmes we had given the police,” claims Mr.Sunderaraj. Blood relatives When asked about not producing the child before the CWC, Murugan, Inspector of the Shoolagiri station said, “The child is only three years old and we cannot keep a crying child in the police station. We only handed her over to her blood relations.” However, he said, ‘they were informed,’ without stating which agency was informed. Chairman Vincent Sunderaraj denied the claim. “Every station has a Child Welfare Police Officer (CWPO) whose job is this. The child was clearly abandoned by a family member, and she has been sent back to the family without the knowledge of the CWC. This clearly show no amount of training is good enough.”

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