Nine trafficked kids return

Manipur to seek help from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka

Imphal, Feb. 9 : Nine traumatised children, who were rescued from the clutches of traffickers in Chennai last month, reached here today after nearly eight months of nightmare. These children — seven boys and nine girls, aged between eight and 12 years — were among the 71 Manipuri children rescued by the Chennai Child Welfare Committee with the help of police from two homes in the Tamil Nadu capital last month. Alarmed by the number of children being trafficked out of Manipur and dumped in illegal homes in the southern states of the country, the state social welfare department has decided to seek the help of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments in tracing them. “We have decided to write to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka social welfare departments to seek their help in finding children lodged in illegal homes or trafficked from Manipur. We believe more children are being taken out of Manipur, particularly to the southern states, and languishing in illegal homes there,” social welfare director S. Saratkumar Sharma said today. The children who returned today were trafficked out of Imphal West and Bishnupur districts in June last year by a local resident, S. Heorjit, and his accomplice, Keisham Rakesh. Both work for private companies in Chennai. Tamil Nadu police had arrested them along with two others from Manipur but they were freed on bail. The police are now looking for one Emmanuel, who runs an illegal home in Chennai, his son Benny and friend Christopher. The nine rescued children slept throughout the day at the state social welfare department-run Observation and Special Home at Takyel in Imphal West where they have been given shelter for the time being. Three of them had high fever and most suffered from skin diseases. They were examined by a team of doctors. “Please do not take any photo or speak to the children. They are exhausted and traumatised. They have been badly treated,” a state social welfare official told reporters. Quoting some of the rescued children, an official said they were tortured with electric iron, not given enough food and suspected to have been sexually harassed. The director appealed to parents to “report to the district social welfare offices or child welfare committees if their children were taken out of Manipur on false promisesof free education.” The children’s parents turned up at the home this morning to meet their wards. “We will first talk to our children and hold a meeting of guardians. Only then will we comment,” one of them said. Officials of the social welfare department and child activists will record the children’s statements tomorrow.