Home at last for 15 little girls!

IMPHAL, February 9: Fifteen little cute and innocent girls Who had been confined for the last two years in an illegal home for children in Karnataka have finally arrived here safe and looking hale. The bevy of little girls arrived in Imphal by a flight from Kolkata yesterday. The children, from four years to 11 years of age, have been lodged in the observation home at Takyel under the Department of Social Welfare for the time being. The Juvenile Welfare Board yesterday held a meeting to discuss the children's rehabilitation at a proper place in the state. The meeting adopted several resolutions including taking up of all necessary schemes for the rehabilitation of the children under the Manipur Juvenile Rule 1988 and I Juvenile Justice Act 1986. The meeting also resolved to hand over the children to their genuine relatives only after making proper verification. Those children who were not claimed by their relatives will be kept at the observation home an official of the Social Welfare Department, Government of Manipur told a group of pressmen here today. The children are orphans of Kuki tribe - the victims of the ethnic clash in Churachandpur a few years ago. They hail from Tengnoupal and Churachandpur. They were taken away by an American couple in the name of Harvest Workers Trust from Manipur on 5 January, 1999. When they took away the children, no information had been given to the Government of Manipur. The illegal confinement of the children came to light only when the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Karnataka had written a letter to the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Manipur on 8 December, 2000. Following receipt of the letter, two officers of the State Social Welfare Department left for Bangalore on December 15. However the American couple filed a habeas corpus in the Karnataka High Court against the removal of the children from the Harvest Workers Trust. The High Court then called comment from the Government of Manipur as respondent. The case was heard on February 1 this year. The High Court passed an order in favour of the children being handed over to the Manipur Government's authorities. The children accompanied by three officials and two women police constables left Bangalore on February 5 for Imphal. They reached Kolkata on February 7. They were received by the officials of West Bengal State Councils for Child Welfare at Kolkata. The team arrived in Imphal yesterday. It may be noteworthy to mention that the government of Karnataka has been bearing the expenditure for the children since December 2 last year till February 5. The Karnataka government also paid for the train journey of the children from Bangalore to Kolkata and for the flight to Imphal.