33 children were rescued from the home; officials had received complaints of children going missing

A children’s home run by New Hope and New Life Trust was sealed at Ranganathapuram in Medavakkam on Saturday following complaints of children going missing. The administrators of the facility were also accused of not adhering to basic rules of running a home.

The officials rescued 33 children, including 19 girls, from the home, based on a petition to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). The children were transferred to a nearby government-approved home.

District social welfare officer G. Sarguna told The Hindu, that the trust members had been given prior notice to set right poor living conditions and given enough time to do that.

“Moreover, there were complaints of ‘missing children’ from the home, for which we sought a report from the founder of the trust. Despite being given enough time, he failed to produce the children before the Child Welfare Committee. Based on the reports of Child Welfare Committee and reports of violations filed by social welfare department, the district collector on Friday issued orders to close the home,” she said.

Representative image.

Representative image.

CHENNAI: Extremely anguished by the high rate of child thefts and the number of children still remaining to be traced in Tamil Nadu, Madras high court has made some radical suggestions to address the social problem.

Form a special child-missing squad with officers trained in such cases, a division bench of Justice S Nagamuthu and Justice V Bharathidasan told Tamil Nadu government on Monday.

Passing further orders on a PIL filed by Exnora highlighting the blatant theft of two children who were sleeping on Chennai platforms with their parents, the judges said they do not want to refer the cases either to cbcid or central/district crime branch, since they are already overburdened. They have to handle frauds, murders, law and order, besides other responsibilities, judges said, adding that only a special unit could do justice to child thefts and child lifts. "We are anxious. We don't know whether they are stolen for sale or for their organs," the bench remarked.

Child trafficking racket busted

Seven held in Chennai, one in the U.K., for trafficking to Europe and the U.S.

The Chennai city police have busted a human trafficking racket run out of Chennai and Delhi airports. A woman passenger who is suspected to have indulged in the crime seven times using Indian passports has been arrested. The connivance of some immigration officers is suspected.

The breakthrough followed an input from the Foreigners’ Regional Registration office, Chennai.

The matter came to light a week ago when A.K. Singh, Assistant Foreigners’ Regional Registration Officer, received an input about Haru Manju Datta, who was bound for the United Kingdom accompanied by a person who was under 18 years, impersonating her own son, also bound for the U.K., through the Chennai international airport.

Representative image.

Representative image.

NEW DELHI: Nearly 3,000 missing children have been traced in four days, thanks to the facial recognition system (FRS) software that the Delhi Police is using on a trial basis to track down such children.

The identities of the missing children have been established and efforts are on to help them reunite with their families.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), in an affidavit to the high court, said that the Delhi Police, on a trial basis, used the FRS on 45,000 children living in different children's homes. Of them, 2,930 children could be recognised between April 6 and April 10.

Arrest Telangana native for procuring infants and supplying them to accused Habib

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VASCO: The case of kidnapping, torture and assault on eight minor girls in which the Vasco police have arrested a 65-year-old woman Venus Habib, a resident of Baina, took an interesting turn as Vasco police now suspect child adoption network. On Friday, police arrested a Telangana native for his involvement in procuring infants and supplying them to main accused Venus Habib.

It may be recalled that following complaint from NGO Childline, the Vasco police recently raided a flat at Baina and rescued eight minor girls, aged between 11 and 12 and arrested Habib on the charges of kidnapping, torture and assault on the girls.

“Since we wanted to know the source from where the accused lady had adopted the minor girls, a police team led by PSI Diago Gracious rushed to Telangana to find out more about the story behind the 8 ‘adopted’ girls who became the alleged abuse victims of Venus Habib. After a detailed inquiry, the police team managed to arrest one Pathlot Thakaria (60), a native of Telangana, and brought him to the Vasco police station on Friday. We later produced him before JMFC Vasco and the court remanded him in police custody for seven days,” Vasco PI Nolasco Raposo said.

A four-year-old adopted girl was assaulted and abused by her mother.

A four-year-old adopted girl was assaulted and abused by her mother.

Child rights activists on Wednesday accused a single mother of assaulting and abusing her four-year-old girl “adopted” daughter who was admitted to a Indore hospital with multiple injuries on her body.

Anmol was admitted to the Choithram hospital in Indore on Tuesday with several bruises on her face, neck, arms and legs, activists said. Her mother Sushila, who uses only her first name, claimed the minor fell down a flight of stairs.

Anmol was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

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After her adopted son was denied a caste certificate, a single mother has moved the Bombay High Court. The mother, who is a resident of Borivali, Mumbai, challenged the state government’s decision, which upheld the patrilineal concept of castes being passed down from father to son.

The mother filed a petition through advocate Pradeep Havnur with the Bombay High Court demanding for her son to be recognised as a ‘Mahyavanshi’, which comes under the Scheduled Caste (SC). “There was no father’s name on his birth certificate, it just had his mother’s name. Today, my son is using my name as a middle and surname,” the petitioner told The Indian Express. “This caste certificate will give my son an identity. I had used this caste certificate for my education and I want the same benefits for my son through this caste certificate.”

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The mother had adopted her son, now 14 years old, in 2009. However, despite giving him her name, when she applied for a caste certificate for her son on the basis of her own caste certificate, it was rejected by the Deputy Collector’s office, Dharavi Division on September 3, 2016. She also appealed to the District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Mumbai to no avail.

Held captive Goa

Image for representation. Photo: Reuters

At least eight girls were found confined in a flat in Goa's Vasco city, where they were allegedly subjected to torture, including branding them with a hot knife, police said today.

The girls, all in the age group of six to 12 years, were also allegedly beaten up with a pipe by a 65-year-old woman who claimed to have adopted them, Vasco police station inspector Nolasco Raposo said.

The police had yesterday rescued the girls from the flat, located in the Baina locality of the city, with the help of an NGO and arrested the woman, identified as Venus Habib.

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MUMBAI: A single mother has moved the Bombay high court to challenge denial of a caste certificate to her adopted son by the collector's office.

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