Sir — Over 500 children brought to Kerala last week from eastern States were victims of child trafficking. Eight persons were arrested for their alleged involvement in the inter-State child racket that supplies children to Muslim orphanages in the Malappuram district of Kerala. The children are mostly from Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar.
It is shocking that the Kerala Minority Commission Chairman visited the eight accused in jail, booked under penal provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act. The commission exceeded its brief by taking statements from them. Moreover, the Chairman is openly supporting the accused.
The Kerala Minority Commission has no right to interfere in such matters and give a clean chit to the accused, as the police inquiry has not been completed and the accused have not been declared innocent.
Also, the victims are not from Kerala while the commission’s duty is to safeguard the rights of the minorities of Kerala. Is it because the accused are Muslims, that the Chairman is interferingIJ