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Child rights body writes to TN Govt, wants check on illegal adoption........Teena Thacker
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written to the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary seeking the state government’s intervention in the case of illegal adoption of Indian children in Australia.
According to a report, a gang of criminals active in South India recently kidnapped at least 30 children and sold them to “adoption” agencies who, in turn, shifted them to countries like Australia for “adoption” by affluent childless families. Some children are believed to have been taken from the streets by gangs who sold them for as little as Rs 10,000 to an adoption agency “Malaysian Social Services” based in Tiruverkadu in Chennai.
“We want to know what action has been taken against the agencies involved in illegal adoption,” said Sandhya Bajaj, member, NCPCR. The Commission will also get in touch with the Australian Embassy to see how these children can be repatriated to India. “The priority is to get back those children,” added another official. A case in point is a nine-year-old girl who was abducted by a gang in Chennai a few years ago and is currently living in Queensland under a new name. Though the girl was adopted through the Queensland Department of Families, Youth and Community Care, the adoptive family has now been apprised of the situation and is keen on finding out the truth. The Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI) has also intervened in the case and had sent an Interpol request to Australia to interview the Queensland authorities and the foster parents. According to estimates, at least 30 of the almost 400 Indian children brought into Australia in the past 15 years were victims of trafficking. “While, adoption in India is a lengthy process, it is to be investigated how this agency was doing it and that too in a country like Australia,” an official said. URL:http://www.indianexpress.com/story/355821.html |
