The Madras High Court Bench here has directed the Inspector of Ezhumalai police station in the district to enquire into the number of children within his territorial jurisdiction having been sent to other States such as Kerala for working in snack manufacturing units.
A Division Bench comprising Justice S. Manikumar and Justice V.S. Ravi ordered that the Inspector should collect information about the children and their employers and pass it on to the Superintendent of Police for rescuing those children and rehabilitating them. The orders were passed while disposing of a habeas corpus petition filed by Tamilarasi, sister of two such boys — Mayakannan (17) and Karuppanpandi (14) — who were sent to Kerala four years ago at the instance of two agents who promised to pay the family a lump sum of Rs.25,000.
Alleging that the promise was breached by the agents and that the whereabouts of the two boys were not known, the petitioner had sought for a direction to the Ezhumalai police to rescue her brothers.
Pursuant to court directions, the police rescued the children from their employer in Kerala and produced them in court. On enquiry with them, the judges found that the elder brother was born on August 8, 1997, and the younger on May 15, 2000.
Though the petitioner had claimed that her family was not paid the promised amount of money, the judges said that they were not concerned with that in the present case.
However, they took notice of the fact that the children could not continue their education owing to their socio-economic condition.
“When we enquired both the detenus, the boys admitted that they were working in Kerala. These boys have fallen victims to poverty, losing their education. We wish, they should continue their education. Mayakannan, who is above 17 years, does not want to continue his education but stated that he would stay with his sister.”
“We direct the Chief Educational Officer, Madurai district, to admit Karuppanpandi in a Government HSS with boarding facility. The Headmaster, Government HSS, Uthappanaickanur, is directed to issue Transfer Certificate and Conduct Certificate of the detenu to the parent/guardian so as to enable the CEO to comply with the directions,” the judge ordered.