NCPCR mediation cell for women fleeing with kids from abroad to escape domestic violence: Maneka

New Delhi: A mediation cell has been opened on the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights’s website to register complaints of Indians who have fled with their children from abroad to escape domestic violence or some other issue, Union minister Maneka Gandhi has said.

Addressing a national conference of the state women commissions, Gandhi yesterday said the cell, consisting of members of the Ministry of External Affairs and the NCPCR, would contact the embassies of the respective countries and try to reach a solution after consultations with them. About why India should not become a signatory of the Hague Convention, she said if India was a signatory, then the child would have to be sent back and the woman apprehended.

“We refused that we would not send our women back so their child is snatched away from them,” the Women and Child Development minister said. She said her ministry was desperately looking for a solution for women who have fled from abroad with their child to escape domestic violence or for some other issue.

“We haven’t come to a solution, but till a solution is reached this cell has been formed,” Gandhi added. The Hague Convention is a multi-national treaty that seeks to protect children wrongfully removed by one of the parents from the custody of the other parent.

She recommended members of the women commissions to follow three things — release a book on the performance every year, identify single cases and try to solve them and hire lawyers for women who cannot afford it.