Child trafficking racket busted in Tamil Nadu

Kanyakumari (tm), Jan 27 (ANI): Around 76 children hailing from Manipur and Assam were recently rescued from a home at Kulitorai in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district.

Prabhakaran, a member of the Child Welfare Committee, which rescued the children, said the young kids were forced to live in appalling conditions.

"Children hailing from Manipur and Assam regions were smuggled to this place to work in stone quarries. We traced them from a place named Kulitorai, all huddled in unhygienic condition with no proper accommodation and care. Many of them even did not have proper clothes. Fortunately, we could save them and now they are under the care of Sharanalayam at Tirunlveli," he said.

Prabhakaran also added that the volunteers of NGOs are finding it very difficult to communicate with the kids since they know only Manipuri or some tribal dialect and Assamese.

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.

Over 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. (ANI)