UCPCR asks U'khand govt to probe death of infants

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand child rights commission has asked the state government to order a high- level probe into the death of two infants at a state-owned children’s home here last year due to alleged lack of care.

In a letter to Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh yesterday, UCPCR Chairman Yogendra Khanduri said that a “high-level” probe should be conducted into the deaths of the infants due to alleged human negligence.

Referring to a report from the additional secretary, social welfare, Khanduri said that the infants died at the facility in a span of less than a month last year. The Uttarkhand Commission for Child Rights (UCPCR) has also sought that cases of the home’s inmates, who were rescued from trafficking, abuse and exploitation, be also investigated.

Two girls from Nepal were admitted to the home after being rescued from an ordnance factory official’s house where they were allegedly tortured, he said.

Noting that a girl from Jharkhand, who escaped from the house of a doctor couple in New Tehri, also resides at the home, the UCPCR chairman said that such cases where child trafficking, abuse and death due to human negligence are involved should be probed by a high-level committee to bring the culprits to book.

Victims of child trafficking being carried out by inter- state and international gangs are also staying at the facility, he said.