The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has issued a notice to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for allegedly involving children in her election campaign, PTI reported. On Wednesday, the child rights body had written to the Election Commission after a video showed children shouting “derogatory remarks and using abusive language” in her presence.
The NCPCR asked Vadra to submit her reply within three days. The child rights body cited an August 2014 Bombay High Court order banning children from being used in election campaigns.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has asked the Congress’ Uttar Pradesh (East) general secretary to specify the names and addresses of these children, the places where they shouted slogans and how they reached there, PTI reported.
Meanwhile, Vadra accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of distorting a video of the incident that went viral. “I stopped children from saying slogans which I think were not correct about the prime minister,” Vadra told ANI. “The BJP edited the tape, removed the part where I was stopping them and they are making this allegation which is typical of them. What they do is twist the truth, what I do is I speak the truth.”
The video clip showed children shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and supporting Congress President Rahul Gandhi while Vadra was campaigning in Uttar Pradesh.
“Such violation of children’s right for any work connected with election process like campaigning, carrying of campaigning material, etc, would attract necessary action and apart from facing the consequences of the law, if any, will be taken by the commission against erring political parties,” the NCPCR told the poll body on Wednesday, and asked it to take “necessary action”.
On Tuesday, Union minister Smriti Irani had retweeted a clip of the video showing the children shouting an abusive slogan against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Vadra’s presence. “Uncouth to the core,” Irani had said. “Imagine the filthiest of abuses that a Prime Minister has to endure from people whose only claim to fame is a nose. Lutyens outrage anyone ????” The video clip is 12 seconds long, and begins with the children shouting “Chowkidar Chor Hai”. Later in the clip, the children can be heard shouting a slogan calling Modi a pimp. The video clip ended there.
The video appeared to be cut and ended right before Vadra stopped the children from chanting the slogan. “Not this one, this one is not good. Only good ones, okay?” Vadra is heard saying in a longer version of the video clip.
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Fact check: Video in which kids abuse Modi as Priyanka Gandhi looks on has been maliciously clipped
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