Now, biometric identification for child beggars’ parents

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 17

In a bid to eradicate the menace of child labour and begging, the district child protection office has decided to use biometric machines during its future raids to verify the parentage claims over the rescued children.

The use of biometric machines would help the department authenticate their parentage and address.This move will help the department to counter any false claims, duplication of identity and check forced begging operated by organised cartels.

The department has rescued a total of 14 children in the last two days, who were found begging and picking rags in the city. However, officials could not send them to child protection homes because some people turned up claiming themselves as their parents and demanded their custody. “We have handed over the children to them after producing them before the Child Welfare Committee. We have decided to use biometric machines in future to ascertain the genuineness of these claims,” said District Child Protection Officer Manpreet Kaur.

If a child is not enrolled for Aadhaar, the department would not get any help from the biometric machines. “In cases where a child has been abducted from far off places and is forced into begging, their biometric records would help us in finding their real parents and reunite them with their families,” she added.

The department today conducted raids at Novelty Chowk, Company Bagh, district courts complex, Ranjit Avenue, Bhagatawala garbage dump, railway station and Rattan Singh Chowk and rescued seven children involved in begging. All of them were later handed over to those who claimed to be their parents after producing them before the Child Welfare Committee.

The child protection office is running an intense drive for the last six months to check child labour and begging in the city.

The department officials said that in November, they had inspected 1,152 commercial establishments and issued challans to shopkeepers who were found employing minors. The department is also planning to get the short-term stay homes registered as per the law so that the rescued children are taken care of at these centres.