Clad in white clothes, her arm tightly bandaged and sitting in a wheel chair clasping a small doll, Manjari Nayek was far from the torture chamber that had been her home for the past five years.

Smiling at the efforts taken by the NGO workers to cheer her up a week after her case came to light, Manjari was produced at the court today to put her statement on record.

The child’s plight came to light when she escaped from the home of her employers — an RBI employee and his wife, who was ironically involved with a child welfare NGO. Nayek was admitted to hospital for over a week to recuperate from her trauma.

Today, she was released from CMRI where she was being treated and brought to Alipore CJM court where her statement was recorded under Section 164 of IPC.

Meanwhile, the members of Campaign against Child Labour (CASL), a national forum fighting for the rights of children, have taken up her case.

Biplab Das, a member of the CASL, hoped the case would be closed at the Alipore court so that it could be taken up by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which is better equipped to handle such cases.

“Under the Juvenile Justice Act, any person under 18 is a child in need of care and protection, and must be produced under the CWC, which comprises of a seven-member team. Since she has already been produced here by the police, we are hoping the case can be shut here as it overlaps with the case started by the CWC,” said Debashish Ghosh, an advocate and a member of CASL.

... contd.