185 missing children rescued from illegal employment, begging

As many as 185 children, missing since long and forced into illegal employment and begging, were rescued from four different districts of Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court has been informed.

The information was conveyed to a bench of justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan in the status reports submitted recently by Chennai and Coimbatore police in response to the court's order on a habeas corpus plea on missing children.

Taking note of the reports, the bench expressed the hope that the state police chief would ensure that such children were rescued and rehabilitated in other parts of the state too.
 

It directed the District Child Welfare Committees of and the Social Defence director to take appropriate action for rehabilitation of the children who are rescued and produced before the respective committees by the police.

In its interim orders on the plea by one M B Nirmal, the founder of Exnora International, an NGO, the bench asked the respective District Child Welfare Committees to file further status report on or before June 9.

Nirmal has sought a direction to the police to produce 8-month-old Vimal and 9-month-old Sharanya, who went missing while sleeping on the platform along with their parents in the city last year before the court.

Following an earlier direction by the bench, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) K Shankar told the bench in a status report that following a meeting convened by the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police, searches were conducted by 47 special teams on April 21.

During the searches in the districts of Chennai and parts of adjoining Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur, a total of 94 children -- 48 girls and 46 boys -- were rescued and 79 adults were secured.

The Child Welfare Committee before which they were produced made preliminary enquiries and identified the parents of 21 children and handed them over to them.

The other children had been lodged in various government homes.

Coimbatore Commissioner of Police A Amalraj in his report said 91 children, including five forced into begging, were rescued in the city.

The bench said it was hopeful police would take appropriate penal actions against the persons responsible for either employing the children or forcing them to beg and posted the matter to June 9.