Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday observed that the trafficking of children from a North Indian state to Kerala had brought disgrace to the State Government. The court also observed that a serious investigation was needed to know the real cause for bringing in such a large number of children.
The bench suo motu made the Principal Secretaries, Department of Social Welfare of Bihar and West Bengal and Secretary, Ministry of Railways, New Delhi, parties in the case. The court further directed the state to file affidavits stating the details of the children who had come to Kerala from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bangal, on May 24 and May 25.
“There should be a serious investigation to know how those 588 children had come to Kerala in two days, why such a huge number of children from outside the state had come to Kozhikode and Palakkad districts and not to the capital city Thiruvananthapuram, or a popular city like Kochi. The children must be handed over to their parents or lawful guardians under the supervision of the respective District Collectors,” the court observed.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon also directed the Crime Branch to submit the progress of the investigation at every stage. The court passed the order on the petitions filed by Rajendran Prasad, president of Thampu (National Trust for Tribal Education, Development and Research) and Gopika Govindan, coordinator of the Child Right Initiative, Kochi. They sought a directive to the State for the immediate repatriation of the children to their home states.
The Government has been treating the issue lightly. Trafficking of children by train without tickets revealed the high handedness of those involved in it. It was surprising that the Railways found no offence in such a huge number of children travelling without tickets and that too from such a long distance, the court said.
The court also asked the State to file the details of the children sent back to their homes along with details of their names. The bench also directed the State to place on record where these children were housed and who had been in charge of them.
