Maoists abducting minors to use them as child soldiers; NHRC seeks report

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday sought details from Jharkhand government over reports of Maoists abducting minors and using them as child soldiers in the state.
 
The NHRC's notice to Jharkhand Chief Secretary and Director General of Police seeking a detailed report within two weeks came after it took suo motu cognizance of a news article about abduction and recruitment of children by Maoists in Jharkhand.
 
Observing that the report brings forth the "stark reality of the vulnerability" of children in the remote areas of Jharkhand, it said the children are denied fundamental rights, including their right to education and the issues raised are gross violation of the human rights.
 
The NHRC has asked the state government to provide details on four counts, including the police estimate of actual number of children who have been recruited by Maoists in the state.
 
It also wanted specifics of the action taken by the local administration and police to trace such children and re-integrate them with the main stream of the society.
 
The state government will also have to provide details of the policy initiatives taken to educate and rehabilitate such children. Besides, the NHRC said, the report should also contain details about action taken against those who are involved in dragging children into the Maoists' den and coercing them to carry out illegal activities.
 
According to the NHRC, the news article claimed that more than 1,000 children have been abducted over the past few years and deployed as foot soldiers, couriers and sentries around Maoists' camps in Jharkhand. It claimed that children from Lohardaga, Gumla, Latehar and Simdega, the western districts of the state bordering the Maoist strongholds in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, are easy prey.
 
The report also mentioned that in some districts, Maoists had asked for five children from every village to the cadre and people have no option but to give in.
 
Even, the report claimed, child soldiers were made to chop off a thief's ears or strip offenders naked and cane them. The recruits are initiated into violence through execution of brutal punishments pronounced in the Maoists’ jan adalats.