Ludhiana illegal shelter home: Magisterial probe suggests nine more children missing

The report says, “There are 47 names in attendance register of the shelter home for August. Their attendance is marked till August 6. According to shelter home owner, 30 children were handed over to their parents on August 14 but for that too, no written record has been maintained. Eight others were shifted to Heavenly Angel Children’s Home at Doraha. Nine more names were written in attendance register but neither their detailed records nor the children were found. Of these nine children, six are above 18 years of age, one is 16 and there is no detail available of remaining two.”

Read | Ludhiana shelter home case: 20 ‘missing’ children found with families, middleman arrested

Blasting Ludhiana CWC and DCPO, the report says, “Gross negligence has been found on the part of CWC officials and DCPO Ludhiana. When they inspected the home on July 31 and then on August 9, they were well aware the home was not registered under the Juvenile Justice Act. Then why wasn’t the custody of children taken immediately? Due to their negligence, the owner managed to hand over children to parents without informing the CWC. The owner claims he gave children to parents but there is no record to verify the same and we don’t know who took the children away.”

The report, however, is silent on any action against CWC and DCPO.

‘7 more ‘missing’ kids traced’

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Police have traced seven more children “missing” from the shelter home of the total 30 whom the owner Satyendra Prakash Musa had claimed handing over to their parents. Now, three children from Jharkhand still remain “missing”.

However, the physical verification of seven children is pending.

Read | Ludhiana shelter home case: Owner held for trafficking, religious conversion; 30 kids still missing

Speaking to The Indian Express, G Kranthi Kumar, SP of West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, said, “Of the 30 children from Jharkhand who were allegedly trafficked to the shelter home in Ludhiana, we have traced 27 now. Of the seven who have been traced now, five are in Ludhiana with their parents, who work as seasonal agricultural labourers there. We have spoken to them on phone. Parents said they would be back to Jharkhand soon. We will pay for travel expense so that physical verification of children could be completed at the earliest. Two others have been traced in West Singhbhum.”

The shelter home owner and his accomplice Junall Longa were arrested by the Jharkhand Police and sent to jail. Musa has been booked for allegedly running an unregistered shelter home and converting children to Christianity.