Kozhikode: The rescue of five girl children who were being employed as house maids in Panur has once again shed light on the evil practice in the region. The five girls from Andhra Pradesh, aged between 9 and 16, were rescued from four households of Aniyaram near Chokli on Tuesday. The authorities suspect the involvement of an inter-state child trafficking racket in the case.
According to Childline, several children are being employed as house maids in Panur, Kadavathur, Aniyaram, Champad and Mundothparambu areas. “It is difficult to trace out the children in these houses which are out of bounds for the outside world. These children were rescued by the visit of six Childline workers to six houses simultaneously,” said Joble Jose, district Childline coordinator.
Last month, a district legal service authority team had visited the area to study the grave issue following a complaint filed by a Kannur-based NGO, ‘Janakeeya Samiti’. “The team led by the sub-judge had given a report to conduct a detailed probe after the visit. Close to 200 children are being employed in the affluent NRI houses here. No one knew what is happening inside the palatial houses separated by big compound walls from outside,” says E. Maneesh, general secretary of the samiti.
The samiti alleges that child trafficking rackets bring children from AP and Karnataka. The district child protection office along with Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and Childline will be conducting an awareness programme on June 12 in Panoor to educate the public. “Last year, four cases were reported from here. We are mulling a concrete action plan to end the practice,” said Anju Mohan, district child protection officer.
Childline officials say that a detailed probe would reveal the harassment the hapless children had been subjected to. Sections of Juvenile Justice Act were slapped on Raheem Kandoth, Noushad Kandoth, Hafees Kandoth and Nazar for employing the children in their houses. The children would be repatriated to Andhra as per the CWC recommendation. The Chokli police are probing the case.
