Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 29 2010:
In what looks like a case of child trafficking, 12 children from the State who have been housed in a children home at Chennai for the last five years have been brought to Imphal.
The children aged between 10 and 15 years included nine boys and three girls.
All of them belong to Bishnupur district.
They arrived at Imphal together with staff of Social Welfare Department yesterday.
They were also accompanied by some people from Chennai.
But it could not be confirmed whether those people were volunteers of NGO(s) or officials of Tamil Nadu Government.
It is also uncertain whether the children were trafficked or taken to Chennai with the consent of their parents.
As they lived the last five years in Chennai, all the 12 children can speak Tamil fluently.
On the other hand, a typical accent while speaking in Manipuri was unmistakable.
To gather detailed information about the children, a team of media persons went to Takyelpat observation run by Social Welfare Department.
But the media persons could not gather any information as the officials present there refused to make any comment in the absence of the Social Welfare Director.
Staff looking after the home also barred any interaction between the media persons and the children without permission of the Director.
After sometime, the children came out to go home with their parents or relatives.
One of the parents said that he has kept his child at Chennai for some time now.
"We brought back our children because we feel like seeing them", the parents said.
On being enquired about the name of the children home, the parents, however, said that they have no idea.