55 Manipuri children rescued from Tamil Nadu

IMPHAL - Around 55 children were brought back to their homes in Manipur after being rescued from an unregistered children’s home in Tamil Nadu.

The under-teen children were handed over to their families after being brought back to their native place by the officials of Manipur Child Welfare Council.

Saratkumar Sharma, Director, Social Welfare Department said, “We brought back the 55 children. Parents and all the communities working, all the civil societies working, all the self organisations working in Manipur and all the religious organisations need to be sensitised towards trafficking.”

“They all need to understand about any kind of situation. Now before sending the children or as a citizen we should be aware we should be very much vigilant,” added Sharma.

With this, the Governments of Manipur and Tamil Nadu as well as child activists have rescued over 70 children from the state jointly in less than a month.

In January, around 76 children hailing from Manipur and Assam were rescued from a home at Kulitorai in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.

A number of cases of child trafficking have been reported from the north-eastern and other hilly regions of India in the recent years.

Trafficking of children is a global problem and that every year 1.2 million of them become victims of the crime.

More than 12 million children below the age of 14 are working as domestic servants or other jobs such as in stone quarries, embroidery units, mining, carpet-weaving, tea stalls, restaurants and hotels, according to government data.

A law prohibiting employing children in homes and in the hospitality industry came into effect in October 2006. There have been so far only 1,680 prosecutions and not a single conviction. (ANI)