Last week, Lindsay Lohan went to India for a long-promoted trip to fill a BBC documentary about child trafficking. Most of the concerns many people had about an official BBC documentary unit and a seemingly legit charity associating themselves with a crackhead like Lindsay came to fruition just hours after Lindsay had landed in India. Lindsay announced on her Twitter page that “Over 40 children saved so far… Within one day’s work… This is what life is about… Doing THIS is a life worth living!!!” Granted, for those sticklers, Lindsay didn’t claim that she saved 40 children, but it was insinuated. And that was enough for everyone to get majorly pissed at Lindsay. Apparently, these “40 children” were saved before Lindsay even arrived.

An Indian charity has accused Lindsay Lohan, the Hollywood actress, of claiming to have helped to rescue 40 child labourers in New Delhi when she was not actually in the country

The star of Mean Girls, who went to India to make a BBC documentary about child trafficking, appeared to claim she had rescued the children in just one day and was now changing the world “one child at a time”.

But according to the charity which organized the raid, neither Lohan, 23, nor the BBC, were present.

In a series of posts on Twitter, Lohan, who has undergone treatment for alcohol abuse, appeared to boast of her role in the rescue and suggested that it had changed her life.

“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 said. 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.” Her comments caused a stir in India and anger among those who led the raid.

A leading social activist and lawyer, known only as Bhuwan, of the campaign group Bachpan Bachao Andolan, accused Lohan of portraying dangerous child rescue operations as superficial events, which could be carried out in a day by passing celebrities.

The raids, which involved two months of planning by local police and magistrates, were on 15 workshops in central New Delhi where children as young as seven were making mirrored ornaments for export. Some of the children said the traffickers had paid their parents 2,000 rupees (£25), while other parents had handed over their children for promises of payments which were not made.

All worked from 8am to 1am the following morning, but only some were paid. Those who had been working for several years received 800 rupees per month (£10) while others were paid just 200 rupees.

According to Bhuwan, they were freed on Tuesday, hours before Lohan arrived in India and a day before she and her BBC Three film crew visited the Ashram rehabilitation centre where the children were taken before being returned to their families. “She was not even in the country when this raid happened,” he said.

“We’ll be complaining to the BBC and talking to our lawyers … Would Lohan know where these workshops are?”

Ruchira Gupta, an anti-trafficking campaigner, said: “If celebrities do it to get publicity then they are trivialising child-trafficking.”

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.”

[From The Telegraph]

Like everything else, when Lindsay sees something she likes, she takes it – whether it be a fur coat, millions of dollars worth of jewelry, or credit for months of tireless work by a childrens’ advocacy group. Even though none of this surprises me in the least, I’m glad someone is calling Lindsay out on her bullsh-t. I’m no so happy that people put Lindsay in the position where she could lie and take credit for the work this organization is doing – when are people going to realize that they shouldn’t work with her?

Lindsay Lohan at LAX, returning from her India trip, December 12, 2009. Credit: Bauer-Griffin.