North Bengal homes may be involved in Jalpaiguri child trafficking racket, fears CID

CID sources said a link between several children's homes in the region and Chandana has emerged.

Indian police officials escort Chandana Chakraborty (L) from a police station in Jalpaiguri on February 21, 2017, for a medical check up to a hospital in the district of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, after her arrest as part of an alleged child

KOLKATA: The West Bengal CID fears that several children's homes in north Bengal may be part of the child trafficking network of school teacher-turned-alleged trafficker Chandana Chakraborty, who is supposedly behind the trafficking of at least 30-40 children from the region.

According to CID sources, the State investigating agency is secretly conducting an investigation into the discrepancies in adoption procedures of the homes and their nexus with alleged Jalpaiguri child traffickers.

CID sources said a link between several children's homes in the region and Chandana has emerged. "We have come to know that several homes in the region acted with Chandana under a 'give-and-take' policy. Children were exchanged between the homes according to the needs of potential adopters. We are connecting the dots and collecting solid evidence against the children's homes. As soon as we get sufficient proof of their involvement in the racket, we will take necessary action on the lines of  Chandana Chakraborty," a senior CID official told New Indian Express.

The CID has undertaken thorough checking on whether the children's homes have valid licences, updated records of children and if they followed proper adoption procedures. It is also looking into the functioning of the Child Welfare Committees of north Bengal districts. The possibility of Chandana's nexus with local administrators is also being probed.

Incidence of chronic poverty, especially in the tea gardens of Dooars and strategic junction of three international borders of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh make north Bengal not only a hotspot for women and child trafficking but also a transit point of international human trafficking from Nepal and Bangladesh to the Indian and West Bengal hinterland. Many of the trafficked women land in the brothels of south Bengal, the largest and most infamous being Sonagachi in Kolkata.

Meanwhile, Rabindranarayan Chowdhury, senior BJP leader and father of another trafficking accused BJP Mahila Morcha general secretary Juhee Chowdhury has accepted before the media that he and her daughter had gone to Delhi on a flight for which Chandana paid the expenses. "I and Juhee had gone to Delhi...the home (of Chandana). She had paid the expenses," he said.