Various Muslim outfits in Kerala have come together to defend the orphanages run by the community in the State in the context of the widespread demand for a thorough probe into the recent incident of suspected trafficking of hundreds of children from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal without proper documents to the orphanages in the name of social service.
The Muslim league, second biggest constituent of the Congress-led ruling UDF, on Monday unleashed an attack against Congress’s Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, the State Human Rights Commission and all others who had aired protests against and suspicions over the way in which the children were brought to the State.
The Railway Protection Force at Palakkad had since May 24 detained 589 children of four-to-14 age group as they were being brought to orphanages run by Muslim outfits in Kozhikode and Malappuram. Many of these children did not have the required documents issued by their state governments. Eight persons had been arrested on charge of human trafficking in relation to this.
“The police have committed a grave mistake by terming this incident as a case of human trafficking,” Muslim league general secretary ET Muhammad Basheer said. Speakers at a meeting of the Muslim league’s State Executive in Thiruvananthapuram suspected a conspiracy behind the ‘interpretation’ of the incident as one of child-trafficking.
The Muslim league is said to be viewing the development as an opportunity to bring together various Muslim outfits like the Samastha Kerala Jamaat ul Ulema and Jamaat-e-Islami under its umbrella. It is interested in the matter also because Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal, its State president and supreme leader, is chief patron of many such institutions.
State Human Rights Commission chairman JB Koshy said on Monday that a detailed probe was necessary into the functioning of orphanages to find out whether children brought into such institutions were being used for other purposes. He also said that a survey would be held to assess the conditions of these orphanages.
Deputy Inspector General of Police S Sreejith, nodal officer in the SHRC, had after extensive examinations at orphanages in Kozhikode, come to the conclusion that the recent incident could be included in the category of human trafficking as "there is a law regarding this and that law has obviously been violated".
On Monday, State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said that there was violation of law in the recent incident. Orphanages should function in a secular manner but some people were trying to cause religious discrimination, he said. He also blamed the concerned governments for their alleged failure to prevent the bringing of so many children to Kerala.