Dawa Magar, who was Wednesday rescued from the street in Kathmandu, used to survive on people's charity. The 10-year-old boy from Gaighat of Udyapur had made the Chabahil area as his home as a street child.
The Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala, acting on information provided by the locals, picked up from there for the protection. The child has been kept at Children at Risk and Coordination Committee, Kathmandu.
"The boy is under our protection," committee chief Krishna Bahadur Rajbhandari said. The committee is searching for his family. If its efforts become successful, the boy will be reunited in the family. If not, the child will be sent to the child protection center."
The cause of his separation from the family is yet to be ascertained and the police are trying to find it out. The recall of chilling days in the street made him emotional. "I would get small amount of money and some food from pedestrians for the survival," he said in his soft voice. "
"When I am going my home," is his frequent question to the center management since his arrival here. As he said, his parents are daily wage earners.
Nine-year-old Sabin Lama and his three-year-old brother Kushal of Dasarabasti, Kanchanpur were found from near Chhahari Club in Kathmandu on October 2. It is not known how they came to the street at a very early age. Three Metropolitan Police Circle, Bouddha rescued them and they have been sheltered at the Bal Mandir children’s home at Naxal at present. These kids are also asking to go home.
Assistant Sub-Inspector at the Center for Children at Risk, Narayan K.C. said investigations have been started as to how the two brothers came to the road. They plan to issue public notice through the mass media to track the two kids’ family.
The Central Child Welfare Board on Thursday has handed over a girl at risk who was rescued from the street to her family.
Board’s program coordinator Chitra Poudel said that the girl was handed over on the condition that she would be looked after well by her family.
These are only some representative cases of children at risk who have been rescued. Many children abandon their homes or are missing. The number of children who are lost is higher than the number of children found.
Children leave their families and are at risk mainly due to the poor economic condition of the family, domestic dispute, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, the problem arising after the mother’s elopement with another man, illiteracy and lack of family love and care.
The most at risk children are from the economically poor families, according to the Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Centrer, Krishna Bahadur Rajbhandari.
According to him, the boys at small age are high in number in terms of disappearance while the older girls saw the same trend. Most of the children are also reeling under serious exploitation. Among 511 children disappeared in two months from mid-July to mid-September this year, 390 were girl children. It was also informed that 208 among those missing were found.
According to the fiscal year 2017/18 (2074/75 BS), as many as 2,230 children had gone missing in Nepal, among which 1,407 were girl children and 923 were boys.
As reported, 1017 out of the missing have been found. The data shows that girl children are more vulnerable than boys. The missing children included 245 in Province-1; two hundred and eighty-seven in Province-2, seven hundred and two in Province-3 (283 from Kathmandu Valley), 275 in Gandaki Province, three hundred and forty one in Province-5, two hundred and ten in Karnali Province and 270 in Province-7.
As many as 442 children were found stranded in the fiscal year 2074/75 BS. Kathmandu Valley saw the highest number of children found later. Currently, 167 children are in child home.
Though the Nepal Constitution-2072 BS has enshrined the fundamental right to life with equity, right against exploitation, right to education, health and proper care, the trend of disappearance of children has not stopped.
