MillenniumPost
Delhi

Girls living on streets: They grab our hands, pass lewd remarks

NEW DELHI: While most people are familiar with the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012, very few are aware of children living on the streets – especially girls – who face abuse almost daily.
Children living in street situation are a common sight in urban India. These kids especially the girls are among the most vulnerable groups living in the country with little access to adult supervision, protection, education and healthcare.
Talking to Millennium Post, these girls living in street informed that they faced abuse almost every day sometime from commuters or sometimes from the local drunken people.
"They sometimes grab our hands while we are selling balloons or other items on the street," said a 17-year-old girl living in Sarai Kale Khan area.
Few girls, aged between 10-12 years, told this correspondent that when they go to shops or market places local boys or some senior people pass lewd remarks on them. "Who will fight with them… they are very much stronger and also they harass us," said the girl.
The children living in streets are often described as hidden or invisible due to lack of identity, recognition or social status that can make them count.
A 14-year-old girl, who does begging on different street lights of the Capital, stated that when she and her friends go to parks, people who are drunken tried to touch with them and also passed lewd remarks.
Even worse, they face abuse while sleeping. The girl said nowadays they have deployed street dogs so as to alert them whenever some strangers come passing by at night.
One of the girls stated that due to lack of public washroom or toilets facilities they often go to open field for natural call or any others but sometime these anti-social elements took pictures or make videos.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has been conducting meetings with the stakeholders, regarding the situation of children living on streets.
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