Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 25 2010:
After 17 kids from Manipur were reportedly rescued by Child Welfare Committee, Chennai from Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu on January 23, the Social Welfare Department of the State Govt has written to the Social Defence Commissioner of Tamil Nadu Govt seeking detailed information about 76 children from Manipur and Assam who were rescued together.
The Director of the Social Welfare Department has also issued a notification today appealing to all concerned for getting the prior approval of the Department as well as the District Child Welfare Committees concerned if children were to be taken out of Manipur for one reason or another.
The notification has also appealed to the public for contacting the police stations, district child welfare committees or dialling the childline number 1098 if they came across group of children being taken away in suspicious manner either at bus stand, taxi stand, airport, railway station, hotels, etc.
It further pointed out that without the approval it is illegal and punishable under the provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (Amended in 2006) to take out any children from Manipur even with the good intention of sheltering them in some children homes/institutions or providing free education.
Meanwhile, according to a report in The Hindu, published from Tamil Nadu today, out of 76 children from Assam and Manipur who were rescued on July 23, 54 of them are actually from Manipur .
They were rescued during a raid conducted by Palayamkottai Juvenile Home Officer Shakla Bhanu and Probationary Officer of Kanyakumari district K Thirumavalavam along with police on the night of January 23 at Bethesda Blessing Home.
The children were found together in a small room with no basic infrastructures.
Located in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, the Home is being run by one Shaji of Kaarakonam, a bordering village with Kerala, the report said, adding that the rescued children are in the age group of 5 to 15 and all of them wished to return to their respective
homes.