Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 31 May: The East Siang district police arrested Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) Nanung Sitang on Tuesday for employing a 10-year-old girl as househelp and exposing the child to continuous distressful and violent treatment.
The arrest was made by a team comprising Police Station OC Ige Lollen and ASI C Rina of the women police station, one-stop centre (OSC) CA Mary Tatak, and officers of the District Child Protection Unit(DCPU), under the supervision of East Siang SP Dr Sachin Singhal and ICDS Deputy Director Machi Gao.
The girl child was rescued from the ADO’s quarters.
Speaking to this daily, the SP informed that the arrest was made based on a tip-off that a minor girl was working as a househelp under Sitang for a year and was being treated violently.
“Accordingly, the team swung into action, and a joint raid was planned, resulting in safe rescue of the girl child,” he said.
A criminal case (u/s 307 of the IPA, r/w Section 14 of the Child Labour Act, 1986, r/w Sections 75 and 79 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015) has been registered against Sitang at the Pasighat women police station. She was produced in the court of the chief judicial magistrate on Friday.
The child has been admitted to Bakin Pertin General Hospital in Pasighat with severe injuries.
It is learnt that counselling is being provided to the child by the DCPU and the OSC.
A press release from the East Siang police stated that “the district police and administration remain committed to safeguarding the rights of every child and provide all assistance as needed by children in distress.”
