Kerala High Court closed the child trafficking case against Mukkam Muslim Orphanage on Wednesday, after a Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) closure report was filed in October, 2019. The investigation team had submitted a report at a special CBI court in Ernakulam which gave a clean chit to the organisation. Following which the orphanage authorities approached the court to quash the case.
On May 24, 2014, Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Palakkad station took 457 children and 40 adults into custody under suspicion that the children, all of whom are natives of Bihar and Jharkhand, were being trafficked. They were on their way to Mukkam Muslim Orphanage in Kozhikode.
Later, the children were handed over to Child Welfare Committees(CWC) and in turn, CWC sent back more than 150 children to their native place. The rest of the children were sent to the orphanage. Police also charged some of the persons who accompanied the children with human trafficking cases. The orphanage too had faced harsh criticism from the media and public at that time.
However, in the CBI report, it was stated that the children were sent by their parents or guardians without any pressure or coercion for better quality of life- good food, quality education and other facilities-free of cost. The report also said that the orphanage was a registered organisation and had received two national awards for its services from the central government.
The orphanage authorities told TNM that among the 457 children only 207 children were sent to the orphanage. Rest of the children who were sent back to their homes later dropped out from school and struggled with poverty. The children were on their way back to the orphanage after a vacation at their home. They were sent to schools and given good food and amenities at the orphanage hostels. The CBI report also said that the amenities at the hostel were good.
"We were insulted a lot then. We also spent a huge amount of money to run the case. Many of us were on the verge of getting arrested," AE Moideen Haji, Mukkam orphanage vice president said.