Tamil Nadu's stolen children: Madras HC orders compensation, special police unit
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.
Calling for an action plan, the bench further suggested that thumb, palm and toe impressions of children born in hospitals, especially government hospitals, could be taken and stored in digital format. The record could be used for comparing the fingerprints of children during investigation or when the child is traced, the bench said.
As for the already missing children, the bench said the government must implement its own scheme of providing Rs 3 lakh compensation to families of children missing and remaining untraced for more than seven years. In the case of children missing for at least one year, but less than seven years, the government agreed to provide Rs 1 lakh each as interim compensation to the affected families.
Immediate beneficiaries of this readiness of the government and the court order would be families of 255 boy children and 287 girl children who had gone missing between the years 2011 and 2015.
The bench, however, made it clear that the directions would be applicable only to children who were stolen, and still remain untraced, and not to those who are either taken by the spouse due to matrimonial disputes.
TOP COMMENT
This may lead to a self lost business. For 3 lakh any thing can happen.
Brij Y
The PIL of Exnora's M B Nirmal talked of two recent instances of child theft reported at Vyasarpadi and North Beach Road platforms in Chennai. The government, in its response, said cctv footages showed that the two children were taken away by some men coming in a car and auto rickshaw. Special teams have been formed, and a large number of witnesses, suspects and evidence are being probed, and the teams visited bangalore, and several other places in connection with the case, it was submitted.
Already, after being nudged by the court, government has appointed cbcid superintendent of police S Rajeswari and DSP Raja Srinivasan to exclusively handle the cases.
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