‘Child Trafficking’ Case: Initiate Legal Action, Says Child Welfare Committee

published on June 3, 2014

PALAKKAD: The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has in a complaint to the sub-inspector of the Railway Police, Palakkad, said that it viewed the transportation of 455 children by the Patna-Ernakulam Express to Kerala as a serious case of “child trafficking”.

The Chairman of the Child Welfare Committee Father Jose Paul  has asked the sub-inspector of the Railway police to initiate legal action in this regard and submit a report to the CWC at the earliest.

The complaint given by the CWC on May 26 says that the children brought by the 16310 Ernakulam-Patna Express on May 24 had 455 children in the S10, S11 and S 12 coaches. Of the 455 children who alighted at the Palakkad station at 2.10 pm only 156 of them had valid documents. A total of 299 children did not possess any.

The three bogies of the train had a capacity to accommodate only 225 but it had 487 children packed like sardines.

All the children were aged between 6 and 16 years. There were no caretakers or protection for these children. Some of the children had to carry heavy luggage. Therefore, this incident was a clear violation of child rights, felt the CWC .

The complaint of the CWC assumes significance since E T Mohammed Basheer MP, had called a press conference today and stated that nobody in the State had complained to the authorities about the transportation of children to Kerala. The parents of the children also had no complaints and therefore it could not be termed as “child trafficking”.

Jharkhand Govt Officials Meet Children
Palakkad: Government officials from Jharkhand on Monday met the students who were allegedly trafficked from there to orphanages at Mukkam in Palakkad. The students have been housed at an orphanage at Pezhunkara in Palakkad for the last two days. On Tuesday, the Labour Commissioner of Jharkhand, the chairman of the Child Welfare Committee, and officials of the departments of Social Justice, Police and Labour are expected to arrive. Manish Kumar Sinha, one of the officials, told Express that the team was waiting for the other officials from Jharkhand to arrive. He said that the genuineness of the destitution of the children would be investigated.
Sources: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/Child-Trafficking-Case-Initiate-Legal-Action-Says-Child-Welfare-Committee/2014/06/03/article2260248.ece