By IANS,
New Delhi : An eight-year-old drug addict was rescued by the police and a child rights organisation after he was found chained by his family in the Mayur Vihar area of east Delhi, a statement said Friday.
One of the nine children of a migrant rickshaw-puller, the boy’s story is poignant.
According to the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which assisted in the rescue work, the boy’s father died three years back and his mother, a labourer, had to stop working because of her deteriorating health condition.
“To support the family, his elder brother started working as a waiter in a restaurant. However, his Rs.5,000 salary was not enough, therefore some kids started working as rag pickers. Satish used to go to school, but one day the teacher blamed him for stealing and he stopped going to school,” an NGO official said.
“After that, he also started working as a rag picker and got into the habit of consuming leftover dregs from the liquor bottles he picked. He also started sniffing correction fluid with his friends. As time went by, he became more and more addicted..” th official said.
“The family thought that they had no other option but to tie him up with chains so that he would not go out and indulge in this habit. He has been tied up in chains since a year,” the official said.
After hearing about the news, the NGO wrote to the Child Welfare Committee (CWG), whose chairman Mamta Sahai then informed the nearest police station about the issue.
“Some of us then accompanied the police and went to the boy’s house where we found him chained. We counselled the mother and she agreed to send the child to the children’s home for treatment and rehabilitation,” the NGO official said.
The boy has been sent for a medical check-up. The CWC has also ordered the child to be sent to the Apna Ghar shelter home in Delhi after all the medical and other formalities were completed so that he is given proper care and protection, the official added.