CMO ensures stringent action against child traffickers in state

The state government is taking stringent measures to check trafficking of newborns, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressing deep concern over the recent spate of incidents in which nursing homes and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were found to be involved in child trafficking.

Sources in Nabanna said that the state government is doing the needful, without letting many people know the detailed measures taken in this connection.

It may be mentioned that the Crime Investigation Department (CID) has so far arrested 16 people, including two doctors, for their alleged involvement in the newborn trafficking racket.

The investigating agency had also rescued 10 infant girls, all aged between one and 10 months, from an old age home in Thakurpukur.

In another case, skeletal remains of two infants were found buried in a garden adjacent to another NGO at Maslandapur in North 24 Parganas.

The nexus between the NGOs and certain nursing homes – which used to claim that the admitted mothers gave birth to stillborn children and later sold the baby for a few lakhs – is a complex one. The state government has assured to take all necessary measures to unravel it.

With such incidents rising in the state, the Bengal government has decided to intensify vigil on nursing homes and NGOs. Sources said that there are such nursing homes in almost all districts.

As a result, teams will be formed to conduct sudden raids in such nursing homes and immediate legal action would be taken in case the health care units are found to be involved in any criminal activities.

At the same time, functioning of the NGOs will also be monitored. 

Legal measures would be taken against NGO authorities if they are found involved in such cases.

Since the racket functions in an organised manner, the attempt of the state government is to break the entire chain of operation. It hopes to bring an end to the menace in the state.

A peculiar fact brought to the knowledge of concerned officials is that the girls who were rescued from the NGO at Thakurpukur had been confined for a long time because there were no takers for the infant girls.

However, all the infant boys that the racketeers had trafficked were sold out as they would be engaged for all sorts of odd jobs.

As a result, the girls were not given proper food and care at the NGO. After receiving many such disturbing reports, the state government has decided to take all necessary steps to bring an end to the menace.