New Delhi, 30th July, 2013

The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo-motu cognizance of media reports that five children, aged between 7 and 17 years, have been forced by their fellow villagers to live under a tarpaulin shed in a graveyard, where their parents are buried. They were chased out of their house in Jamua village in Pratapgarh District, UP after their mother succumbed to HIV/AIDS recently. Their father had also died due to HIV/AIDS.

The Commission has observed that the contents of the press report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights of the Children and issued notice to the District Magistrate, Pratapgarh, UP to submit a report in the matter within four weeks.

Reportedly, the villagers did not want these children to stay in the their house as they feared that they might also be HIV infected. The children have stopped attending school and are surviving on the food given by some villagers.

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