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| May 24, 2005 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1426 |
300 held by child bureau belong to beggar families
LAHORE, May 23: Most of children caught while seeking alms at city intersections since November last year belong to beggar families and not to a beggar mafia. Of 385 children rescued by the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, 300 belong to beggar families, mostly gypsies, while the remaining belong to a beggar mafia.
“Statistics shows that poverty compels people to force their children into begging,” says a bureau official. All 300 children have been handed over to their parents\guardians on assurance that they will not force them again into begging.
However, 21 of them (300 children) were again found begging at different intersections and their parents were fined subsequently.
Officials fear that these families may not give up begging and move to other parts of the province as they used to make enough money out of it.
The bureau caught Sabeha Bibi along with her children — Kainaat (5) and Fida Husain (3) —- outside the railway station a couple of days ago.
Narrating her story, Sabeha Bibi told Dawn that she left her house in Muzaffargarh after developing differences with her husband about three months ago. She said her husband used to beat her for not getting money from her parents.
“Finally I started living with my parents in Abbas Naggar (Lahore). Following her failure to get work, I started begging and my children, especially Fida Husain whose lower part is paralyzed, helped me earn between Rs300 and Rs500 daily.”
The bureau let Sabeha Bibi and her children go on promise that she would not force her children into begging again.
At present, the CPWB Institute houses over 80 children for rehabilitation. All the rescued children have different stories to tell.
Some 11 cases are pending with a court against members of a beggar mafia caught by the bureau on information provided by children.
CPWB head Dr Faiza Asghar told Dawn that its main purpose was to rescue and rehabilitate beggar children.
“After the establishment of bureaus in other cities, it will be not easy for parents to force their children into begging once they are caught,” she added. Dr Faiza said the bureau was establishing a rehabilitation centre in the Shalamar area (Angoori Bagh) which would accommodate over 500 destitute children besides, several NGOs would also extend their cooperation in this regard.
Under the Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act, 2004, the government is bound to rescue and provide shelter to destitute children. Under the act, the government may establish one or more courts for a given area and appoint a presiding officer for it in consultation with the Lahore High Court. Until a court is established in an area, the LHC may confer powers upon a sessions judge or an additional sessions judge to carry out necessary legal proceedings.
The law provides that the court shall decide a case within one month from the date of production of a child. The court may also order the admission of a destitute child to a child protection institution or his custody be entrusted to a suitable person until he attains the age of 18.
Fines and imprisonments have been introduced by the court for keeping unauthorized custody of children, their employment for begging, giving them intoxicants and drugs, permitting them to enter places where drugs are sold, inciting them to bet or to borrow and exposing them to seduction.
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