NHRC probes minors' role at Mumbai Cockroach Janata Party protest
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken cognisance of a complaint over the reported participation of minor children in a recent Cockroach Janata Party protest in Mumbai, with concerns that their presence could have been used to avoid or limit police action.
This comes after a complaint flagged social media material showing a child being held above a crowd while slogans were being raised, and the NHRC wants to find out if this was done on purpose.
NHRC directs evidence preservation, child protection
Mumbai Police, the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai; the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY); and the Grievance Officer of X Corp. for India have been told to preserve relevant digital evidence while the police check if adults were involved or broke any laws under the Juvenile Justice Act.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra's Department of Women and Child Development has been asked to keep the children safe and offer support.
All updates must be reported within a week, with everyone making sure the children's identities stay private.