Karnataka Anganwadi Worker Thrashes Toddler; Faces Suspension

After a video of an Anganwadi assistant beating up a three-year-old toddler started to circulate on social media, the Karnataka Child and Women Welfare Department (KCWWD) has taken up action against the assistant for her misconduct. The assistant working in Sajjivala area of Gundur, Karnataka reportedly thrashed the child for coming late to the Anganwadi centre and then showing difficulty in understanding the lessons. This annoyed the assistant and she started to slap the child, told the person who shot the video.

The locals allege that this is the usual behaviour of the assistant with the children, and that they tried to warn her against using force, while handling children but to no avail. While this is not the first time she was hitting a child, this is definitely the first time the state panel has registered the complaint and also ordered for an internal probe into the case. They have also sent the child for counselling.

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"Actions of the Anganwadi worker were unwarranted. The woman who thrashed the child will be suspended and the child will be provided counselling," V Navadagi, Deputy Director, (KCWWD) said while commenting on the incident.

Earlier in November 2019, a similar incident had been reported from Odisha's Keonjhar. A man had allegedly beaten up a child mercilessly inside an Anganwadi centre at Shivanarayanpur village under Hatadihi block. On probing the case, it was revealed that the man was the father of another child, but the Anganwadi in-charge had failed to give an explanation for the security lapse that allowed the man to enter the Anganwadi centre and slap the child. A video of this incident also went viral on social media in which the man could be seen holding the child upside down and thrashing him. Reportedly, the incident occurred because a day earlier, this man's child had complained to him about the other child, as they both had gotten into a fight.

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The locals allege that this is the usual behaviour of the assistant with children and that they tried to warn her against using force while handling children but to no avail. While this is not the first time she was hitting a child, this is definitely the first time the state panel has registered the complaint and also ordered for an internal probe into the case.

Another incident of misconduct and serious negligence by an Anganwadi worker, in 2012,  led to a Measles outbreak in Odisha’s Ganjam district. When the news spread, an Anganwadi sector supervisor of Purushottampur block, Shantilata Gamanga was suspended since the Anganwadi worker of that village weren't performing their duties and yet the supervisor did not register a complaint against them to the district administration.

After the Measles outbreak in Dasiamaripalli village the sub-collector and district social welfare officer Sabita Behura conducted a separate inquiry and submitted it to the collector. However, it led to the death of a four-year-old girl while 70 other children fell ill with the disease.