The CBI has decided that it can take over the probe into the recent incident of trafficking of hundreds of children from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal without proper documents to orphanages run by Muslim managements in Kerala, even as one of the orphanage managements sought the Kerala High Court’s permission to implead in the case.
The agency has received advice that there are no legal impediments to its taking over the investigation in the case from the Kerala Police’s Crime Branch, according to sources. A division bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Manjula Chellur had on June 19 said that a CBI probe into the incident was desirable for various reasons.
The court had also served notice on the CBI impleading it in the case. Sources said the agency would spring into action once the court directed it to take over the probe. A section in the Government is against a CBI probe due to the serious political ramifications of the case.
However, it will be virtually impossible for the Government to openly oppose a CBI probe. The Government is presently of the position that the current investigation by the Crime Branch should go on. State Advocate General KP Dandapani had last week said that the police probe was progressing satisfactorily, but the court had not accepted this.
The case pertains to the trafficking of nearly 600 children from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal without proper documents to orphanages in Kozhik-ode and Malappuram districts run by Muslim outfits. The police had detained these children, belonging to 4-to-14 age group, at the Palakkad Railway Station on May 24 as they were being brought by train.
The police, acting under the instructions of the Palakkad district Child Welfare Commi-ttee, had registered a case for human trafficking, but the Government’s stand is that the case could not be seen as one of human trafficking though it has admitted there had been some lapses on the part of the orphanage managements in arranging the required documents.
The incident had also caused sharp differences within the Government. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had taken a tough stand on the issue, but others including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had refused to find fault with the orphanage managements, allegedly because of the pressures from the Muslim league, second largest constituent of the ruling coalition.