Child Trafficking: Documents Submitted by Muslim Orphanages Pronounced Fake?

Pointing a finger at orphanage managements which are alleged to have trafficked children from other states, the state government submitted before the Kerala High Court that the documents related to the children were suspected to be forged.

In an affidavit, the Social Justice Department submitted that during the investigation, search was conducted on the premises of the Mukkam Orphanage and Vettathur Anwarul Huda Complex Orphanage on June 5.

The documents related to the 169 children from Mukkam Orphanage and 123 from Vettathur Orphanage, such as consent letter of parents, destitution certificate of village offices concerned and birth certificates were also seized.

“On preliminary verification, all these documents were suspected to be forged. Similarly, 58 Aadhar cards and 11 identity cards of children were collected from the Child Welfare Committee, Palakkad, and 82 application forms of children from Mukkam Orphanage were also found,” it submitted.

The government also submitted that on verification, the persons who accompanied the children could not produce any valid travel documents for them. As part of the investigation, the team questioned 101 children and 25 parents from Jharkand, 41 children and 42 parents from Bihar and 68 children and 42 parents from West Bengal. The government submitted that 349 boys and 229 girls were brought to Kerala from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

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