76 NE boys rescued from unregistered TN home

Tirunelveli, Jan 25: In a major crackdown against unregistered homes, members of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) rescued seventy-six boys from Assam and Manipur from an unregistered children's home in Kanyakumari district on Sunday, Jan 24.

Officials said that the raid was conducted in Bedesta Blessing Home, run by the Roman Catholic missionaries, which lacked both adequate infrastructure and enough food to feed the children.

Briefing the media about the rescue, Shakila Banu, Palayamkottai Juvenile Home officer and probationary officer, Kanyakumari, K Thirumavalavan said that the children were staying in home since Jul 2009.

The officials added that the children, belonging to below poverty line families were brought to Saranayalayam, which is a home for orphans and destitutes.

"We want to join our parents in Assam and Manipur," the children told the officials.

Thirumavalavan informed that Red Cross has been approached to assist in identifying the parents of the children, so that they can be handed back to them.

They added that three more organisations at Ambasamuthiram and Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli district, lacked adequate infrastructure.

Seeking better living condition, the government has been requested to provide the home with adequate infrastructure or send the children to homes with better infrastructure.

The rescued children are part of 150 children brought to Chennai by a missionary few years, but were given away to different homes one in Bangalore and the other in Kanyakumari due to inadequate funds to run the home, officials said.

Stringent inspection norms were laid down by the state government, following reports of giving children for adoption in exchanged of heft sum of money in some homes in Tirunelveli district.

The raid came in the wake of an inquiry by Kanyakumari police who informed the Juvenile Home officer and CWC.

OneIndia News