Statement of child eating mud was a mistake: Kerala

The Kerala State Council for Child Welfare general secretary S P Deepak has retracted his earlier statement that a seven-year-old boy had to consume mud owing to starvation.

The plight of a family living in pitiable circumstances in the heart of Thiruvananthapuram city caught much attention last week with the Council for Child Welfare maintaining that the eldest among the six children, a boy aged eight, was found consuming mud owing to starvation. It caused much embarrassment to the left-front government in Kerala that has been making tall claims about its social welfare scheme.

Even as the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights maintained that the child was only playing with mud and was not starving, the Child Welfare Council was sticking to its stand.

However, the CPM leadership was learnt to have directed the council general secretary, who is also a local leader of the party, to reexamine the matter. Subsequently, Deepak retracted his earlier statement maintaining that it was a mistake on his part.

The Thiruvananthapuram corporation had given a job to the mother of the children and assured a house, which the Child Welfare Council is taking care of four children. Their father was also arrested by police on charges of assaulting children.