Five children from Tamil Nadu, who were found abandoned by their father in a farmhouse on the outskirts of the city and rescued by the Child Welfare Committee members on July 16, were transferred to CWC Vellore.
The children hailed from Vellore and their father Mayavvan brought them to the city where he was employed in a farmhouse. However, they were found to be in a miserable state under unhygienic conditions by local workers in the adjoining farm. Inquiries revealed that they had lost their mother some time ago while their father had not turned up for 10 days and they were famished. The Mysore branch of CWC rescued the children and shifted the siblings — all aged between 3 and 12 — to Bapuji Children’s Home.
N.T. Venkatesh, president, CWC, Mysore told The Hindu that the local branch had communicated to the Tamil Nadu government about the children following which the latter expressed interest in taking over them. Though Mr. Mayavvan returned the next day to stake claims over his children’s custody the local CWC authorities and the Juvenile Justice Board conferred only visitation rights on him as it was perceived that he did not have the wherewithal to educate and nurture them.
In the meantime, the Deputy Commissioner of Vellore sent an official to Mysore who appeared before the CWC Mysore and submitted relevant documents and letters to pave way for the transfer of the children’s custody to CWC Vellore unit under Section 38 of the Juvenile Justice Act 2000.
Mr. Venkatesh said Mr. Mayavvan had objected to the transfer and stated his wish to educate his children in Karnataka but it was thought prudent to shift the children to Vellore as they were conversant with Tamil and education in their mother tongue would be a smoother affair. The children left Mysore for Vellore on Saturday evening.
