India’s most prominent child rights body NCPCR has threatened to pursue litigation against Amazon India Head and global senior Vice President- Amit Agarwal, in case he fails to show up before it on Nov 1.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has called for Amit Agarwal over alleged financial assistance to All India Mission. The commission has accused All India Mission to have been involved in illegal conversions of children. NCPCR had sent a notice to Amazon India pleading them to probe into the actions of the orphanages it funded.
The officials of the apex body also requested Amazon to submit a 10 day report mentioning the action it took it in response to the letter. However, they have not yet received any reply from the company regarding this grievance. A reminder sent on 30th September was ignored.
Bearing this in mind, the NCPCR now needs country head and senior Vice President to be physically present before the commission along with previously mentioned details on November 1, 2022. He is also required to describe the cause of delay in yielding the report and also to notify about the steps taken in regard to the order sent by the committee. In case of failure to appear before the body, he will be charged with outcomes of non attendance as prescribed in the Rule 10 or 12 of Order XVI of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
The child rights body had issued a letter to Amazon on September 16, 2022, demanding a clarification over allegations of aiding an evangelist body. In it’s letter, the committee even attached a receipt of a complaint received by an Arunachal Pradesh based NGO— Social Justice Forum. The NGO arraigned All India Mission for being involved in ‘unlawful activities’ and illegitimate conversion of children in India. The accused organisation is recorded as a charity outfit in the US and the UK.
The letter sent to Amazon reads, “It has been mentioned in the complaint that the said organisation has more than 100 orphanages across India. As per the complaint, the website and social media pages of the said organisation clearly state that they have already converted many people in India already, especially in North East India and Jharkhand.”
The NGO stated in its complaint, that the accused organisation was receiving money from Amazon India and also prompted the officials to investigate into the possibility of a money laundering scam. AmazonSmile platform on the company’s website also states that a small fraction is donated to the cause of All India Mission whenever a customer shops from them. The Head of operations of AIM and its founder also have been known to run a persistent campaign in defaming the nation.
