Days after UP child welfare body ‘rescued’ 95 kids en route to madrasas, parents say they gave consent

Children don't want to go to madrasas, claims UP SCPCR. Parents say they can't afford to send them to better schools, Child Welfare Commission not allowing them to see their kids.

The bus transporting the children was stopped when it reached Ayodhya. | X/ANI

Lucknow: Two days after the Ayodhya Child Welfare Committee (CWC) claimed to have “rescued” 95 children being “trafficked” from Bihar to two madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, the parents of more than 50 have pleaded for their handover, saying they willingly sent the children to study in the madrasas.

The CWC, along with the UP State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (UP SCPCR), claimed to have rescued the children, aged 6 to 15 years, from a bus in Ayodhya Friday after five maulvis accompanying the children could not produce “consent letters” for their transportation from Bihar’s Araria district to UP’s Saharanpur.

Several parents ThePrint contacted said that the children, enrolled in the madrasas earlier, were headed back after spending the Ramzan holidays at their home in Bihar.

The parents, who started reaching Ayodhya soon after the authorities sent the children to a Lucknow-based children’s home, have denied the allegations of illegal transportation and trafficking.

Virender Kumar Singh from the Mission Mukti Foundation, an anti-trafficking NGO, spotted the children Friday near a dhaba in Gorakhpur’s Sahjanwa, kicking off the efforts for their “rescue”.

“We (a team from the NGO) were seated at the Guru Nanak dhaba in Gorakhpur’s Sahjanwa when I spotted a double-decker bus transporting only children near the dhaba,” he told ThePrint Saturday.

“I approached some children who had deboarded the bus to relieve themselves. Some said they were en route to a madrasa in Saharanpur. Others had no idea. So, I informed Shuchita Chaturvedi, a UP SCPCR member,” he added.

Chaturvedi approached the Ayodhya CWC, police and the district probation officer (DPO), who contacted the district anti-human trafficking unit (AHTU), which later stopped the bus when it reached Ayodhya.

“A trap was laid. We asked the driver if some passengers could travel on the bus. He agreed to it after taking the fare and said the next stop was Ayodhya. The AHTU stopped the bus in Ayodhya and rescued the children,” Singh said.

In a letter to the Ayodhya Senior Superintendent of Police, Chaturvedi wrote, “It is expected from you that the children be immediately rescued by AHTU under the supervision of a DSP-rank officer of (the) crime branch and be produced before the CWC.”

“Along with this, an FIR be lodged under suitable sections against the accused involved, and the commission be apprised of the same,” the letter, seen by ThePrint, further stated.

However, the Ayodhya police have not lodged an FIR, a senior police officer told ThePrint. “We only received information from CWC and UP SCPCR about the transportation of children, but the parents have denied allegations of the children being transported forcefully. Further, not a single parent has lodged a complaint…They are now giving their consent letters in writing to CWC.”

The police officer also said that the five maulvis travelling with the children revealed during questioning that most children were enrolled in the two madrasas, Jamia Rafiqiya Tehfisul Quran in Sidki village and Dare Arqam in Kheda Mugal village, while others were joining the new session.

Ayodhya CWC chairperson Sarvesh Awasthi told ThePrint Saturday that the children would be released only if they agreed to study in the madrasas but would be lodged in the Lucknow home if they didn’t want to go with their parents. On Wednesday, however, he said the children will be released after the parents submit affidavits. “Since the children want to return to their parents, we are releasing them.”

Asked to comment on the parents’ allegations of not being allowed to see their children, B. Chandrakala, secretary of women and child welfare, directed ThePrint to Puneet Mishra, deputy director of women and child welfare.

“We can’t make the children meet the parents without permission from CWC. It is the CWC’s domain to give permission. If the guardians have come to take the children, and if the CWC allows it, the children can be released,” Mishra told ThePrint.

Experts ThePrint spoke to said no consent letters are required for children to travel to madrasas. They also questioned the move of the parents allegedly being stopped from meeting the children. However, they added that state agencies are duty-bound to act if they see something suspicious.

Parents rush to UP, but ‘CWC not allowing them to meet kids’ 

After the “rescue” Friday, the children were medically examined and hours later, shifted to the Rajkiya Bal Griha on Mohan Road, Lucknow.

“The children have been sent to a home in Lucknow. I interacted with them (Saturday). Several don’t want to study in the madrasas because they don’t get proper food and don’t like the education they get. One of them told me he wants to become a doctor, but this is not possible with a madrasa education,” UP SCPCR member Shuchita Chaturvedi, who has called for the maulvis’ arrests, told ThePrint.

However, the parents of several children rushed to Ayodhya after hearing what had happened. They, including around 15 women, are currently lodged at a madrasa in Ayodhya’s Rikabganj area.

“Two of my grandchildren had left for the madrasa… My younger daughter’s husband left her, and she is raising her son alone. He was to join the madrasa. The son of my second daughter too was to join the madrasa,” said Asghari, who has come from Araria with her daughter to get her grandchildren released from the Lucknow home. A farm labourer, Asghari cannot afford to send her grandchildren to a better school.

Mujahid, a farm labourer from Araria’s Matiyari village, said he was on the bus with his 12-year-old son, Jamshed Ali, and 13 other children of his family when the CWC stopped it. Of the 14 children, four are already enrolled at the Jamia Rafiqiya Tehfisul Quran madrasa.

“We were sending the other children too because we thought our children would get deeni taalim (religious education), along with food,” he said.

After Mujahid informed his relatives about what had happened, 10 of his relatives arrived in Ayodhya to get their children released.

Several parents said they sent their children to the madrasas because they could not afford the cost of education in better schools. However, they were worried their children would not study seriously in the local madrasas.

Abdul Qayyum from Araria’s Ghurna village told ThePrint that two of his children — Zulfiqar (14) and Sadiq (12) — were travelling in the bus.

“The madrasa provides the children with free lodging and food. I only had to pay the bus fare to send the children to UP. Several other children from our village have been studying in the same madrasa, which is why we decided to send our children there,” he said.

Afroz, the grandfather of Salman (12) and Shamsher Alam (10), told ThePrint that his grandchildren were enrolled at the Jamia Rafiqiya Tehfeesul Quran madrasa.

“They were already studying in the madrasa but came home 12 February to spend their holidays back at home. We want to send the children to the madrasa,” he said.

Chaturvedi, however, said, “Most of the children don’t want to study in the madrasas because they are overcrowded under a roof and served substandard food, including watery daal. Even their parents don’t know about these conditions.”

The parents, however, have denied the allegations and are submitting affidavits to the Ayodhya CWC to get the children released.

Most have come with undertakings from gram pradhans of their villages, verifying the identity of the parent and the child and stating that the parent gave full consent to send the child. ThePrint has seen some of these undertakings.

Hafiz Irfan Ahmad, president of Jamiat Ulema Hind Ayodhya, who arranged for the parents’ stay in the city, told ThePrint that he requested the authorities of the Mohan Road children’s home to allow the parents to interact with the children via video calls but was refused.

“We informed the Ayodhya CWC that the children were being sent to the madrasas by their parents wilfully, but it has asked for an affidavit from each parent, stating they will be present before the CWC for a follow-up every month, and the child will be made to study under the National Education Policy rules, and in the future, the children won’t be sent with anyone without a consent letter,” he said.

Ahmad claimed Ayodhya CWC chairperson Sarvesh Awasthi also asked for the removal of two clauses that the parents wanted in the affidavit about sending the children to the madrasas with their full consent and another to allow the parents to talk with the children before their release.

‘No such consent letter required’

Speaking with ThePrint, Retired justice Madan B. Lokur, who has penned several significant judgments concerning juvenile justice and the protection of children, said the children do not need any kind of written consent letter to travel to the madrasas if their parents are willing.

“In my view, no such consent letter is required for the children for such travel. It is difficult to understand why the parents shouldn’t be allowed to meet the children,” he said.

“There are two versions — one of the parents, and one of the UP SCPCR. An independent authority has to determine the truth. Parents should be allowed to meet the children—they are no strangers,” he added.

Delhi-based advocate Anant Asthana, who deals with Juvenile Justice Act cases and child rights, said investigation in such cases is necessary but can become a hassle for parents.

“The agencies involved in this matter are all institutions under the JJ Act, whose work is to ensure the welfare and safety of children. If they are in doubt about the safety and well-being of the children and why such a long transportation of so many children is being undertaken, it’s their duty to probe the reasons. However, this is a difficult case, where I can only say that investigation is required,” he said.

While agreeing with Lokur that a consent letter is not required for such transportation, he, however, said, “But the movement of so many kids is grounds enough for state agencies to be activated. If parents are appearing before an agency and saying that they have sent the children with their consent, that should end the story.”

Asthana further said that when such processes are initiated and agencies are involved, the children get affected, but it is all within the child protection framework.

“Since there is a religious angle involved here, it has given rise to unnecessary sensitivities, but such institutions have had a history of exploitation and abuse, which is why the orphanages and other charitable homes Act, 1960, was introduced,” he said.

“It has been seen that such institutions start with good intent, but over time, flaws emerge. We have to treat every case according to its background. However inconvenient the investigation may seem, it is a must, and no well-meaning person should oppose it,” he added.

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)