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ASCPCR directs action on cop for cruelty to autistic teenager

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, July 24 - The Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) has written to the Director General of Police (DGP) directing appropriate action against the policeman involved in cruelty against a child with special needs, under provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and other acts applicable in this matter.

It needs mention that a teenage boy, who was accompanying his father to a medicine shop, was beaten up by a policeman in Bharalumukh area here on Thursday. The incident triggered outrage on social media as the video made by the distraught father went viral on various platforms.

Taking cognisance of the matter, the ASCPCR stated that the act is a punishable offence under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The Commission further stated that action must also be taken on the basis of other acts and rules applicable in this case.

Shishu Sarothi demands action: Meanwhile, expressing shock at the brutal manhandling of a teenaged student with autism and intellectual disability by a policeman at Bharalumukh on Thursday, child rights protection group Shishu Sarothi has demanded immediate action against the guilty personnel.

The student with high support needs is enrolled in Shishu Sarothi�s Centre for Education. The atrocity was meted out to him when he was returning with his father after getting some medication for him that he urgently needed. The policeman instead of listening to them chose to beat them up besides threatening them.

A video clip of the incident recorded by the distraught father has gone viral on social and mainstream media, highlighting the desperate need for society to understand and show empathy instead of brutality in these difficult times that has made the marginalized group of people feel even more helpless and left out.

�We strongly condemn this heinous act of the policemen that is violative of the boy�s human rights, his rights as a young adolescent (under the Juvenile Justice Act ), as a person with disability (under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016) and the Disability Inclusive COVID Guidelines of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (MSJ&E), as well as the ASDMA�s SOP for Emergency Support for Persons with Disabilities in context of COVID 19 vis-�-vis floods,� Ketaki Bardalai, executive director of Shishu Sarothi said in a statement.

Stating that the ADGP Assam Police has since tweeted that action would be taken against the erring policeman, and that the Commissioner of Guwahati Police has ordered an inquiry to take further action besides expressing his apologies for the incident, Bardalai said that appropriate, stern and deterrent action must be taken against the policeman who beat up the boy.

�We wish to reiterate that this along with many recent incidents in other parts of the country (beating up and attempts to rape women with disability in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and the offensive viral TikTok video mocking people with disability) indicates their extreme vulnerability and throws up the larger malaise of our insensitive society that continues to threaten, beat, abuse, neglect and ignore them for no fault of theirs. On our part Shishu Sarothi is committed to do all we can to address this apathy through awareness raising, sensitization, litigation and grievance redressal to uphold and protect the rights of persons with disabilities within the ambit of the legal framework of the country,� she said.

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