Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Oct 27: The Child Welfare Committee(CWC) has directed the mother of the 13-year old housemaid, Ayesha, who had jumped down from a fourth floor apartment in Attavar in the city, where she worked as housemaid, in a bid to escape from slavery on August 12 this year, to admit Ayesha into a boarding school within the next two weeks.

While asking Shaheeda, mother of Ayesha, who appeared in person before the CWC last week, to furnish a certificate from the school in which Ayesha had studied earlier, the CWC warned that failure to admit her daughter to a school will attract penal action. The CWC has suggested that the girl be admitted to a boarding school run by their community.

The parents of the girl had evaded appearance in the past, in spite of issuance of summons. The CWC had then sought the intervention of the Sirsi police. It may be recalled that medical tests had proved that the girl was below 14 years of age, even though in the beginning, the parents of the girl and the owner of the apartment where she worked, had given her age as two to three years more than her actual age, knowing well that employing children below 14 years of age would attract  punishment.