The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has issued an arrest warrant against district magistrates and superintendents of police of Nashik and Ahmednagar in Maharashtra for failing to appear in a case pertaining to the sale of tribal children.
The commission on Monday ordered Maharashtra DGP Rajnish Seth to arrest and produce the four officials before it on February 1.
According to an NCST official, the commission had taken suo-motu cognisance of media reports pertaining to the sale of tribal children from the Katkari community in Igatpuri taluka in Nashik district.
The matter had come to light after the death of a tribal girl in September last year. A probe into her death revealed that around 30 tribal children had been sold for Rs 5,000 and a sheep each over the last few years.
The commission noted that police did not register FIRs in all cases and summoned Gangadharan D, District Magistrate, Nashik; Rajendra B Bhosale, District Magistrate, Ahmednagar; Rakesh Ola, SP, Ahmednagar; and Shahaji Umap, SP, Nashik Rural to appear before it in connection with the case earlier this month.