Manipuri Children Trafficking- Absconding Pastor

Effective steps on to nab absconding pastor,cop tells SC

New Delihi: Concerned by the preliminary reports from the Tamil Nadu police,which rescued 76 children belonging to Assam and Manipur from homes run by missionaries,the the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the National Commission for Protection of Childrens Rights (NCPCR) to conduct a probe into the issue.
The Kanyakumari SP informed the SC that all the children belonged to the Zeme tribe in Manipur and Assam and that Rev Paul belonged to the same community.Due to poverty,parents of these children entrusted them to Rev Paul on the promise that he would provide better education and healthcare to them, the SP said.
At the time of taking the children,Rev Paul collected Rs 5,000 from each of the parents for expenses, he said.
Giving details of the manner in which these children were brought to TN,the police officer said,Rev Paul brought them from Manipur and Assam to Chennai in 2008.Initially,they were accommodated in Alice Rebecca Matriculation School,Red Hills,Chennai,then they were taken to Kerala and finally handed over to Pastor Shaji during the year 2009.
Mentioning the arrest of Pastor Shaji,the SP said,Effective steps are being taken to nab the absconding accused,Rev Paul.Only after arresting him,we can get more information about the transportation of children. He said the 76 minor children were sent back to their native places on February 11 and had since been united with their family.
However,amicus curiae Bhat drew the courts attention to another report on the rescue of 17 more Manipuri children by the police in Chennai on March 27.The Bench said there could be a possibility that these organisations were bringing children from the NE to the southern states to impart education as they must be receiving huge donations in this regard.Everything may not be legal in this, the Bench added.
But Jaising said whether it was for education,labour or sexual exploitation,illegal trafficking of children had to be stopped and no one had any business in uprooting them from their family without their consent.