Women's panel deplores sale of infants

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MAY 8.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) today condemned the illegal sale of young girls in Andhra Pradesh and blamed the State government for turning a blind eye to the malpractice and allowing it to flourish unchecked.

The Commission sent a fact-finding team comprising three members of the NCW to look into the illegal trade of girls from the Lambada Tandas tribe after the plight of these girls came to light following numerous complaints by various NGOs and media reports. The girls were reportedly being sold by the tribals to adoption centres and then `resold' under the garb of being adopted.

The NCW team, which visited various areas in Andhra Pardesh, between April 8 and 11, met tribals and officials of the State administration and reported that poverty, gender insensitivity, dowry and other related problems had left the tribals with no other alternative but to sell their girl children; sometimes for as less as Rs 1,500.

The NCW member, Ms. K. Santha Reddy, who led the fact-finding team, said, ``The meeting with police and district administration officials proved that legal provisions for the protection of girls were not enough and the laws certainly were not able to curb the growing menace. Also despite the frequency of illegal sale of girls, the number of cases reported and registered with the police was very low.''

Further, according to Ms. Reddy, the racket flourished because of the improper maintenance of records of children in adoption centres, and the negligible level of contact between the adoption agencies and the biological parents of the children.

Meanwhile, in view of the deplorable condition, the NCW has urged the Union and State Governments to ensure the proper implementation of the Rights of the Child, and revamp the guidelines of Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA). It has also recommended stepping up the sensitisation programme for tribals while stressing the need to implement the poverty alleviation and family planning programmes to check the trade in the girl child.

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