39 minors rescued from Madhya Pradesh distillery go missing

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, June 20

A day after a distillery in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district was shut down for employing 58 minors in the hazardous liquor manufacturing process, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has put the district magistrate and the SP on notice over the alleged “disappearance” of 39 of those rescued.

SDM took 5 hours to reach liquor unit

• The NCPCR claims the SDM did not report on the spot for a long time in signs of deliberate delay
• Says the SDM took five hours to cover 20 km from the district headquarters to the factory and the ADM seven hours
• The factory was being run under the supervision of the Excise Department, which had an office on its premises

The NCPCR team had on June 15, on a tip-off by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, rescued 58 child labourers — 39 boys and 19 girls — from SOM Distilleries, the makers of Hunter beer and Pentagon whiskey. In all, 59 children were rescued, but one girl turned out to be a major.

In the notice to Raisen District Magistrate Arvind Dubey and SP Vikas Shahwal, NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has made shocking disclosures about administrative lapses that prevented the registration of FIRs under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act and the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Act, leading to the “disappearance of the 39 boys from the factory premises”. The NCPCR has also directed the Raisen administration to probe whether any of the rescued children was sexually abused.

The children had severe burns on their hands due to high levels of exposure to hazardous chemicals. The distillery’s licence was suspended on Wednesday on the orders of Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav, but the rehabilitation of the children has not happened due to alleged administrative apathy and irresponsibility.

“These children were brought to the distillery in school buses, which belong to a school run by SOM Distilleries. Some rescued children showed marksheets on phones to say they were enrolled as students at SOM High School, Raisen. An inspection of the liquor unit revealed the factory was being run under the supervision of the Excise Department, which had an office right on its premises. When contacted, the district excise in charge behaved inappropriately and hung up on the chairperson, disconnecting the call,” the NCPCR notice to MP officials says.

Shockingly, the notice adds that the SDM did not report on the spot of rescue for a long time on June 15 in signs of deliberate delay. “At around 3.28 pm that day, the SHO was given the list of children to record their statements and commence the process of their rescue and rehabilitation but the recording could not be completed because the quorum of the Child Welfare Committee was incomplete till late in the night and also due to the absence of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate. The SDM took five hours to cover a distance of 20 km from the district headquarters to the factory and ADM took seven hours,” the NCPCR chief said in his letter to the Raisen authorities.

The notice added that due to the irresponsible act of the SDM, the police could not file an FIR and the commission later received the information in late hours that 39 minors were made to disappear from the premises. “An NCPCR team went to the police station at midnight, but could not get any clue of the whereabouts of the children who were made to disappear by the district administration,” says the notice.

The commission has sought an explanation from the DM and the SP as to what action was being taken against the errant SDM and ADM, said the panel, asking the administration to furnish details of all the 58 rescued children, their whereabouts and details of the SOM High School’s enrolment for the past five years.

After the suspension of liquor manufacturing licence and plunging of shares, Bhopal based Som Distilleries in an exchange filing said the Raisen factory belonged to an unlisted associated firm and not the listed company.