TUMAKURU: Ten children with autism and Down's Syndrome who enthusiastically visited the railway station in Gollahalli of Nelamangala taluk, Bengaluru Rural district, to see trains on Monday were allegedly ill-treated by the station staff.
According to Geetanjali G Govindarajan, founder-executive director of Snehadhara Foundation, which runs a semi-residential facility for children with special needs at Byrashettihalli in Nelamangala taluk, the incident took place when three girls and seven boys were taken by 14 staffers of the foundation to Gollahalli railway station around 10.45am.
The foundation takes children with special needs on field trips to parks, movie theatres and other public spaces every Monday as part of their curriculum. However, the children were in for a shock as the railway staffers shouted at them and asked them to get out of the station, Geetanjali alleged. "They started screaming at us by saying that 'you should get permission and you will destroy the sanctity of this place'," she said.
'Threatened, asked to leave'Geetanjali, who was leading the team, said the railway staff threatened them by saying they would complain to Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel. "If you don't take the children and go from here, people will come and beat you," she quoted the staff as saying.
She said the staff asked the team to take permission before entering the station with special kids. "We were ready to buy platform tickets in accordance with the rules. But there was no facility to sell them.
Our presence itself seemed to be the violation. Finally, the children saw two goods trains before leaving the place," she said. Geetanjali said she has written to the commissioner for persons with disabilities and demanded action against those who ill-treated the special children.
Additional Bengaluru divisional railway manager Kusuma Hariprasad said she was unaware of the incident. "Special children cannot be denied permission to visit a station or be ill-treated. I will take immediate action if they provide me the names of station staff at Gollahalli who ill-treated them." Kusuma added she would arrange a trip for the kids to the station in a day or two if the foundation contacts her.
Snehadhara Foundation, a Bengaluru-based non-profit, is a pioneer in arts practices for inclusion and believes it's the bedrock of a more compassionate society.
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