The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) took custody of four siblings in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, 2 December after their mother wrote to it expressing her inability to take care of them due to poverty, officials said.
The woman had written a letter to the CWC, saying her husband was an alcoholic and they were not able to feed their kids. She also said one of them had once eaten mud due to hunger.
After receiving the letter, CWC members visited the makeshift house of the family in the evening and took custody of four of her six children.
Mayor K Sreekumar had earlier visited their house and told reporters, “The mother will be given a temporary job in the city corporation. One of the apartments, which have been constructed for the homeless under the Life Mission, will be given to the family.”
The family has been living in a makeshift house next to the railway track here.
However, the woman's husband told media he was not informed that the children would be handed over to the CWC and claimed it was done under the pressure of some of his relatives.
“I am a daily wage labourer. I used to take care of them in every way I could,” he said.
Opposition Congress Leader Ramesh Chennithala visited the house and demanded that the issue be resolved soon.
“It's a disgrace to the state that the child had to eat mud due to poverty. The government must take necessary action,” Chennithala said.
Health Minister KK Shailaja told media in Delhi that the state will take care of the education of the children.
“All the four kids will be now under the protection of the government. We will take care of their education and health,” she said.
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