'Child separated from jailed mother must be made to visit her regularly'

New Delhi: Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has proposed that a child separated from jailed mother must be made to visit her in prison at least thrice a week, amid incidents of such children getting trafficked.

The Women and Child Development Ministry has written to the Home Ministry to include a clause in the prison manual under which children are made to visit the mother thrice a week so that she does not lose touch with them, a senior ministry official has said.

"When a child is born in prison, the mother raises his/her there till five years of age, and suddenly after five years of age, the child is separated from the mother. We found that half of the mothers whose children have been separated don't know the whereabouts of their children. Many of them get trafficked," Gandhi said.

"We are planning to add a clause under prison manual if a child is taken away then she/he has to be presented to see his/her mother thrice a week, and the child should not be allowed to leave the district," she said.

The proposal comes amid reports of mothers unable to locate their child after leaving prison, the senior ministry official said.