The pastor, who had illegally confined 18 children from Odisha in a church in Maanjangkonam, was arrested and remanded by the Kulasekharam police on Saturday.
Meanwhile authorities said that they were not able to understand the dialect of the kids and hence they could not to contact their relatives.
Acting swiftly on a tip-off on Friday, the District Social Welfare (DSW) department officials inspected the St Teresa Church at Maanjangkonam near Kulasekharam and rescued around 18 children from Odisha, all below the age of 10 years, confined in a hall on the church premises.
Meanwhile, on a complaint from the DSW officer, the Kulasekharam police filed a case against Pastor Claret, who had brought the children from Coimbatore, and arrested him under various sections of the IPC. Pastor Claret was produced before the Padmanabhapuram Judicial Magistrate Court which remanded him to judicial custody.
The rescued children, who were taken to Tirunelveli, were officially registered and admitted to the Saranalayam home, on Saturday.
“As the dialect spoken by the rescued kids seems to be some tribal language, we found it hard to get a translator here,” Tirunelveli Child Welfare Committee Chairman B Nalachandra Sekaran told Express over the phone. “We have communicated the matter to the Odisha government,” he added.