India’s national child rights protection body on Friday jumped into the ongoing war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over students’ support to arrested Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) took a strong exception to photos tweeted by some Opposition leaders, showing students of government schools holding posters in support of Sisodia, who is credited for transforming Delhi’s public education system.
On Friday, several AAP leaders tweeted photos showing school children holding posters in support of Sisodia, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday.
NCPCR has written a letter to the chief secretary and the commission of police of Delhi, seeking an investigation against Opposition leaders who tweeted the photo featuring minor students.
NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo said that school children were misused for personal agenda which may “adversely affect the psychological behaviour of young children for the glorification of an accused person in liquor scam”.
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AAP leaders Raghav Chadha and Atishi, and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut are among Opposition MPs who posted the picture on Twitter.
BJP has alleged that children were forced to make the poster and pose for a picture.
Speaking to The New Indian, Kanoongo said, “Delhi government is pressuring students to drum up support for a person who is an accused in the liquor scam. They are using children as a shield for the accused. This is not only political but is also a personal agenda.”
The apex child rights body also said that photos were tweeted by Opposition leaders without taking the prior consent of the parents of the children seen in the photos.
Sisodia resigned as the deputy CM and the education minister after his arrest in the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy case on Sunday. He will be produced before a local court on Saturday.