NEWSCharity Disputes Lindsay Lohan's Child-Saving Claims
Dec. 14 2009, Published 3:46 p.m. ET
After Lindsay Lohan claimed to help save "over 40" children in India as part of her BBC documentary on child trafficking, a charity is taken issue with her report, saying she wasn't present when those kids were saved, reports the UK's Telegraph. Lindsay put up a series of Tweets last week, reading: "Over *40 children saved* so far...... Within one day's work...... This is what life is about..... Doing THIS is a life worth living!!!"
She later added: "Focusing on celebrities and lies is so disconcerting, when we can be changing the world one child at a time.... hope everyone can see that."
However a man known as Bhuwan, a leading social activist and lawyer of campaign group Bachpan Bachao Andolan, says her claims make their efforts seem superficial and as if months of planning could be carried off in one day by a celebrity.
According to The Telegraph, the raids to save children working in 15 workshops in central New Delhi were the result of two months of planning by local police and magistrates. In those shops, it's reported that kids as young as seven were making mirrored ornaments to be exported and sold in other countries. Some children said traffickers paid their parents 2,000 rupees (around $40), while others were never paid after handing over their kids. They all reportedly worked from 8 a.m. until 1 a.m. the following day.
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According to Bhuwan, the children were set free on Tuesday, hours before Lindsay landed in the country and an entire day before she and the BBC Three film crew visited the Ashram rehabilitation center where the kids were before going home to their families.
"She was not even in the country when this raid happened," he says. "We'll be complaining to the BBC and talking to our lawyers ... Would Lohan know where these workshops are?"
Meanwhile, a BBC spokesman said: "Lindsay Lohan has just completed filming in India for a BBC Three project on child trafficking. We would like to stress that she did not say she was present at the raid, this is a misinterpretation. She was merely referring to a raid that happened connected to child trafficking - the subject of the programme.
"It is not uncommon for well known faces to be involved in current affairs programmes and often helps engage younger audiences with subjects they don't traditionally go to such as international affairs. The final documentary will have all the hallmarks of BBC content - and will be high quality, informative and engaging."
