OFFENCES AGAINST CHILDREN Child smuggling racket busted

OFFENCES AGAINST CHILDREN

Child smuggling racket busted

In May, 2001, the West Bengal Police arrested three key persons in Cooch Bihar District, engaged in international child trafficking. The three accused were identified as Upendra Nath Sarkar, one of his sons, Nayan Sarkar and Majidul Haque. Two Bangladeshi kidnapped children were rescued from them. Another racketeer, Nitai Das, was arrested from Bhaktinagar area near Siliguri. The gang had earlier smuggled out 22 children from India and Bangladesh to Dubai via Nepal. The accused used to kidnap children below the age of 10 from Bangladesh and remote villages of India to send them to Dubai from where they were sent to different Arab countries to be used in Camel races.

Adoption racket busted

During May, 2001, a child adoption and trafficking racket was unearthed by Orissa Police in Cuttack. Seven children, between six years and one year were rescued by the police in a raid from the orphanage premises, Vikash Parishad Sishu Ashram (VPSA) run by Sukhdev Swain. The orphanage was functioning illegally at Kadampada in the outskirts of Cuttack city since 1994. Some eminent persons were arrested in connection with this racket. All the children were found housed in the most deplorable conditions. They were malnourished and ill treated.