GUWAHATI, Oct 9 - The Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, in an official statement, has stated that noted singer Kalpana Patowary has vehemently violated the section 74 (Prohibition on Disclosure of identity of Children) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, by posting the video of a child on YouTube and Facebook, wherein the identity and details of the child in need of care and protection are completely revealed.
The incident is related to a recent development where Partha Pratim Mahanta, a resident of Guwahati currently working in Bengaluru, was refused the custody of his girl child by her maternal family members with whom she had stayed after the death of her mother.
Following this, Mahanta lodged an FIR at the Dispur Police Station complaining against maternal aunts and uncles of the child, including Kalpana Patowary (maternal aunt of the child). The ASCPCR took cognisance of the matter under section 13 of the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, and recommended vide its letter to the Commissioner of Police to take necessary action to rescue the child and also recommended to the Childline to rescue the child and produce before the Child Welfare Committee, Kamrup Metropolitan.
�Subsequently, the Committee recorded the statement of the child and of the maternal grandparents. The maternal grandmother expressed her unwillingness to take the custody of the child as she mentioned that she was too old to take care of the child. The Child Welfare Committee ordered for temporary custody of the child to her father for five days and ordered for production of the child after completion of the period of temporary custody for taking necessary course of action after that,� a statement issued by the Commission said.
�However, in spite of the order passed by the Child Welfare Committee for temporary custody of the child to the father, Kalpana Patowary (maternal aunt), did not allow the child to be taken by the father. She prepared a video in the campus of the office of the Child Welfare Committee and posted in the YouTube, wherein the identity of the child is completely revealed and the child is shown crying,� the statement said.
The statement further stated that the legal provisions of the laws and acts meant for protection of children should be respected by all concerned. The CWC, therefore, looking into the matter, extended the temporary custody of the child to the maternal family and a next date of production is fixed on October 16, 2019.
Dismissing Kalpana Patowary�s counter-allegation that the Commission and the CWC had favoured the father of the child, the Commission claimed that the actions initiated by the child protection system are in concurrence with the mandates of the authorities and as per the provisions contained in the CPCR Act, 2005 and the JJ Act, 2015.
