The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Friday demanded strict action against the AAP’s CM face of Uttarakhand Col Ajay Kothiyal for misusing minor children in political campaigns. This is after Col Ajay Kothiyal’s political campaign on January 2 in Uttarakhand’s Kamad village where he made minor children glue posters all over the village.
Col Ajay Kothiyal happened to share a video of his campaign in Kamad village on Twitter. “This is our army of little soldiers of Kamad village”, he tweeted as he asked the minor children of the village to glue the campaign posters at night. “Your task is to fix these posters in clean, good places all over the village. Remember, you have to do this in the dark, at night. It should be done by tomorrow morning”, he said while addressing the minors.
He called the 12 minors together an ‘army of soldiers’ and asked them to get ready for the task assigned. In its official letter to the DGP Uttarakhand, NCPCR said that Col Ajay Kothiyal has violated the provisions under Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act by using children in political campaigns as labour.
The NCPCR letter states that Colonel Ajay Kothiyal is misusing children in his election campaign by using them to stick political posters and calling them ‘faujiyon’ and ‘sena’.
“We request you to look into the matter and initiate necessary inquiry to ensure the welfare and safety of children”, the letter read. In the run-up to Uttarakhand Assembly elections early February-March, AAP released the first list of candidates on Friday where it named 24 candidates. According to the list, Colonel Ajay Kothiyal will contest from the Gangotri Assembly.