With the Kerala High Court ordering the CBI to investigate the incidents of child trafficking in the State, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has commenced efforts to include in its purview cases relating to the alleged trafficking of 45 children to two orphanages here in May.
In the first case, the committee rescued 29 boys from the Ernakulam Town Railway station while being taken to the Khadeejul Kubra Islamic orphanage at Nettur, near here, on May 20. About a week later, it also unearthed a similar case in which the Aluva-based Janaseva Sisubhavan brought 16 kids, including six girls from Arunachal Pradesh.
Formal request
‘‘No case of child trafficking had been registered in both the instances though our internal investigation had confirmed it. Hence, we will submit a formal request to the CBI for including these two cases under the purview of its probe,’’ said Padmaja Nair, chairperson, CWC Ernakulam.
According to the CWC, the orphanage authorities failed to produce requisite documents, including certification from the local CWC and the police, for transporting kids to another State.
The CWC has already repatriated the 16 inmates of Janaseva and plans to send back the 29 others within a month. ‘‘We have been in touch with our counterparts in States such as Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Bengal from where these kids were brought in and has started preparing the child inquiry reports. They will be handed over to their parents in the presence of the concerned District Collectors,’’ she said.
At present, the CWC has lodged them at the K.P. Abubackar Musliar Orphanage, near Edappally, where they are also provided tuition in their respective subjects by the SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan).
The Khadeejul Khubra authority, meanwhile, maintained that the move to repatriate the kids would affect the future of the children who have been enrolled in various schools around Kochi.
‘‘About 20 of them were already the students of two English medium schools near here, while the remaining nine kids were also brought for the same purpose. The case is still under consideration of the court and the CWC cannot make a unilateral decision on them,’’ said K.S.M. Shihabudheen Saquafi Kakkanadu, general secretary of the organisation.
Alleged trafficking of 45 children to two orphanages in Kochi.
