‘No trafficking involved in orphanages’
The Child Welfare Committees of Palakkad and Thrissur had ordered the return of 41 children
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-11-11 05:23 GMT
Kochi: The Bihar government told the Kerala High Court on Monday that children from the state were brought to the orphanages in Kerala primarily for education and that it involved no child trafficking.
Deputy director of the Bihar social welfare department Jagjit Kaur Ghai told the court that the children were brought to Kerala with the consent of the parents or guardians as they got free education, food and clothing.
The Bihar government’s response came in a counter-affidavit filed by the official in response to the petitions before the court demanding that it order a CBI investigation into the alleged child trafficking to orphanages in the state.
The officials had visited the orphanages at Mukkam and Palakkad where children from Banka, Bhagalpur and Madhepura districts in Bihar and Godda in Jharkhand stayed. They received no complaints of ill-treatment and allowed the children to continue their studies, the official told the court. The Child Welfare Committees of Palakkad and Thrissur had ordered the return of 41 children and they have been “restored to their families,” the affidavit said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala government told the court that there are 1,172 recognised orphanages and other charitable homes in the state. Children from other states are admitted to the care homes under special regulations issued to eliminate the possibility of trafficking. The government also formed a state-level monitoring committee headed by the Chief Minister, and district-level monitoring committees headed by district collectors for monitoring the institutions.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M. Shaffique directed the advocate-general to produce the Supreme Court orders on child trafficking and to file a counter-affidavit on the relevant state directives on the issue.