By IANS,
New Delhi : The case of two-year-old battered baby Falak, who is battling for life at a city hospital, is a stark example of failure of child protection machinery in the country, apex child rights panel chief Shanta Sinha said here Monday.
“It is the failure of child protection machinery when a baby is abandoned and left to struggle for life. The state has responsibility and implementation of social welfare schemes needs to be taken care of,” Sinha, who heads the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), said at a national seminar on ‘child’s right to a family’.
The seminar was organised by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) SOS Children’s village India.
Falak was brought to AIIMS by a teenager Jan 18 with fractured skull, bruises and human bite marks all over her tiny frame. The girl who claimed to be her mother is now in a juvenile home.
Nine people, including key accused Rajkumar who had handed over the baby to the juvenile, have been arrested in the case.
According to a study done by the SOS children’s village, 5 percent of children under the age of 18 experienced death of one or both parents, while 0.3 percent children have experienced death of both parents.
“Family has been the locus of major social change. Quality of parenting and livelihood that the child is given have a major role in shaping the child,” said SOS Children’s Village secretary general Rakesh Jinsi.