Guwahati: In a shocking case of violation of Child's Rights, an NGO forces children to test for HIV in Manipur.
The incident took place during the winter vacations of the children in Imphal's Mahabali area.
A group of volunteers from Centre for Research and Social Development, an NGO working with the AIDS-affected, landed up and took away nine children to the nearby government hospital to test for HIV infection.
",We were playing. They took us to the hospital saying it's a medical check-up. And they gave us Rs 100 when the check up was done,", said a child.
The residents beat up the volunteers and the police had to be called. The testing of HIV is voluntary and in the case of minors, parental consent in mandatory.
",The volunteers came and took the children away without even asking for our permission. The kids were playing. We don't want this to happen in the future,", said Danmei, Guardian of Child.
Manipur has one of the highest incidents of HIV cases in the country. It also has countless NGOs working in the area. Crores of rupees are at stake.
Often in the rush to show numbers, many NGOs pick up whoever is in sight mainly around cities. The interior parts are neglected.
",Despite instructions some of our volunteers don't follow rules. For this incident we are sorry and this will never happen again,", said AK Kerani from Centre for Research and Social Development.
",We don't want this to happen in the future for NGOs its really bad news. We have to be more careful. It's a violation of rights,", said Ratan, Manipur Network for Positive People.
And did the hospital check if the children had parental consent?
",Children are generally brought by NGOs and the NGOs are all registered when these children were brought we assumed that they had the consent,", said Suryapriya Counsellor, RIMS.
There is of course some good work being done by NGOs here. But to be first off the block with statistics, some take the short cut.