NEW DELHI: More than a year after over 500 children allegedly trafficked in Kerala were intercepted, CBI today registered two cases in this regard against four persons on the directions of Kerala High Court.
"The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered two separate cases U/s 370 of IPC against four accused persons relating to alleged trafficking of 456 and 123 children respectively (aged between 5 to 13 years) from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal to Kerala," CBI spokesperson said.
She said CBI has taken over investigation of these two cases on the directions of Kerala High Court, which were initially registered by Kerala Police.
"These children were intercepted on May 24, 2014 at Palakkad Railway Station on Patna-Ernakulum train No 16310 by RPF Palakkad Kerala," she said.
Over 580 children from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, meant to be brought to two orphanages in the state, were detained by police at a railway station in Kerala after finding that many of them did not have any proper documents.
The issue had snowballed into a major row in the state with IUML, the key partner in UDF, objected treating the incident as a case of child trafficking.
Taking a serious note of the incident, Kerala State Child Rights Protection Commission had directed the state government to take necessary steps to send the children back home.