Two Schoolgirls Missing For Months And Years In Madhya Pradesh, Child Rights Panel Directs Police To Act; Students Flag Lack Of Water, Textbooks In MP’s Sehore

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MPCPCR) has directed the police authorities to find out the two school girls missing for a long time. The Commission has also taken cognisance of a Government School of Excellence lacking basic facilities like water and transport.

The mother of a Class 11 girl student of a Government Higher Secondary School appeared before the Commission recently to complain that her daughter has been missing for the past two months. Her father had dropped her at the school on September 9 this year, after there was no trace of her.

Her mother told the Commission that they had lodged a missing person complaint, but the police were doing little to trace her. In another similar case, a man told the Commission that his (then) teenage daughter has been missing since February 2009.

The MPCPCR chairperson Nivedita Sharma told Free Press that in both the cases, the Commission directed the Superintendents of Police concerned to take steps to trace the missing girls and ensure that the culprits are arrested and punished as per law.

In another case, students of Government School of Excellence No. 1, Sehore, jointly appeared before the Commission and complained that their school lacks basic facilities.

The tubewell supplying water to the school has run dry, with the result that there is no water for drinking. The toilets are filthy and smart boards are missing.

They also complained that though more than eight months of the academic session have elapsed, they are yet to get their textbooks. The Commission was also told that the promised bus for ferrying the students is missing.

The students also said that their classrooms and playground were too small. The Commission has written to Sehore district to provide basic facilities to the students.

It is already November and the students don't have textbooks. This is unacceptable, Sharma said, adding that the Commission's doors were always open for children facing any kind of problems.