‘Why's State Govt apatheticIJ'
The Kerala High Court on Thursday suggested that a CBI probe would be appropriate in the case related to the trafficking of hundreds of children from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal into the State by orphanages run by Muslim managements, instead of the ongoing inquiry by the Crime Branch of Kerala Police.
Stating that the court was considering the issue from the standpoint of the parents of the children, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice PR Ramachandra Menon said that the case could not be taken lightly and that it was imperative that the guilty should be brought to light.
The police had on May 24 detained about 600 children of 4-14 age group at Palakkad as they were being brought without proper documents from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal by agents who were working for orphanages run by Muslim managements at Mukkom in Kozhikode and Vettathur in Malappuram.
The police, acting on the instructions of the Child Welfare Committee, Palakkad had registered a case for human trafficking though the Government later concluded that the incident could not be termed as human trafficking though there were certain serious lapses on part of the orphanage authorities while bringing the children to Kerala.
Ordering issuance of notice to the CBI for making it implead in the case, the division bench asked the Government why it was apathetic about an investigation by the Central agency. It observed that the actions taken by the Government in the issue were not credible. The High Court had flayed the Government on June 5 for not handling the issue properly and seriously.
The Court pointed out that this was an inter-State matter and asked how the State Government alone would take effective steps. In such a situation, a CBI probe would be appropriate instead of the Crime Branch inquiry, it said. The Kerala Police had arrested ten persons in connection with the incident. The Jharkhand Government also is holding an inquiry into the matter.
The division bench opined that the case could be seen only in one way even if it concerned just a single child or hundreds of children. Rejecting the argument that the case had been exaggerated by the media, the division bench said that it should be examined whether there were efforts to keep anything concealed in the issue.
The Court said it was necessary to find out whether violation of rules had been committed in the issue as the incident had taken place in a country with comprehensive laws and rules. It should be noted that the children were brought to orphanages run by responsible institutions, the Court added.
State Advocate General KP Dandapani, who was present in the Court, said that the Government was viewing the child-trafficking issue seriously and that the Crime Branch had been probing it. He also submitted a detailed affidavit describing the actions taken so far. The Court will now take up the case again on Monday.
The Union Woman and Child Welfare Ministry had the other day requested the Home Department for a probe by a Central agency into the child-trafficking incident. The Child Welfare Ministry had concluded that the incident amounted to human trafficking, a position Minister Maneka Gandhi had already taken.
The child-trafficking issue and the way the State police had handled it had created sharp divisions within the Congress-led Government and the ruling UDF. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala took a tough stand while many others in the UDF and the Government argued that this could not be treated as a case of human trafficking.