The group of children from Karnataka, who were rescued by the police and State Anti-Human Trafficking Cell two weeks ago while being taken for labour at a peeling unit in Kollam, were on handed over to their parents by the District Child Welfare (DCW) Committee here on Tuesday.
The reunion, comprising 18 girls and eight boys, with their parents took place at the DCW Committee’s office here, with the procedures beginning around noon and continuing till late into the night. The Committee has made every parent submit a written agreement that the children would not be forced to do child labour or forced into begging or made to do any jobs before they turned 18 years of age. Further, the District Probationary Officer of Karwar in Karnataka, from where the children hail, has been intimated to monitor the whereabouts of the children till they turned18. The DPO has also been asked to submit a report on the children every four months.
Meanwhile, two persons who were arrested on charges of transporting the children, Venkitesh and Mittal, were allowed bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate here on Tuesday.
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The children were rescued at the Alappuzha Railway Station from the Netravati Express on October 18, while they were taken to the peeling unit in Kollam by the agents including Venkitesh. Seeing the weak conditions of the children, fellow passengers had alerted the police after which a rescue mission was launched. The mission, constantly monitored by the media and the public, ended in Alappuzha late that night when the children were taken off the train and later lodged with juvenile homes till Tuesday.