Eight-year-old made part of Congress protest, Haryana Child Rights Commission issues notice

Chandigarh: Taking cognisance of an eight-year-old boy being made to sit in a protest programme of the Congress here last month, the Haryana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has issued show cause notices to party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and two other party legislators. Terming it as cruelty and public shaming of the child, the Commission issued a notice on Thursday. Congress MLAs had last month marched to the Haryana Assembly to register their protest against alleged paper leak, unemployment, inflation and rising crime graph in the state. The child was made to sit in a cycle rickshaw as part of the protest and was holding a placard. The Commission said making a child sit forcefully on a rickshaw for political gains amounts to cruelty. These acts attract stringent proceedings under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and under other provisions of the law including the IPC, the Commission said. The Commission has given five days time to Hooda, the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, and two other party MLAs Shakuntla Khatak and Kuldeep Vats to file their replies.