Three days after 120 children, all alleged victims of child trafficking, boarded a train from Kerala to Jharkhand, they finally alighted at the Jasidih Junction in Jharkhand.
Three days after 120 children, all alleged victims of child trafficking, boarded a train from Kerala to Jharkhand, they finally alighted at the Jasidih Junction in Jharkhand, but perhaps to an uncertain future.
As many as 579 children, 'rescued' from Kerala's Palakkad station last month, have become embroiled in a major controversy that is now acquiring a political tinge. Of the 579 children, 120 were sent back to their homes in Jharkhand and Bihar.
On Thursday, the Jharkhand government handed over these children to their parents, after re-checking their identities, at a school in Godda's Mahagama block.
Parents spoke of how they had sent their children to Kerala only for better education, saying that this has been going on for years in Godda district. The orphanages in Kerala offer a high standard of living, and ample aid comes in from the government as well as from those working in the Gulf countries.
For instance, one parent, a farmer, sent two of his five children, both girls aged 6 and 8, because he saw no future for them in Godda.
Another parent justified his decision by saying, "If we send our children to a Madrasa here, they will not study. How many children can we look after?"
Meanwhile, some of the middlemen who took these children were arrested in Kerala, but police sources say they may have under reported numbers to make extra money out of the travel expenses of these children.
But the whole controversy has now also brought into focus as to why the Jharkhand government did not detect or maybe chose to overlook this exodus of children.
"We will try and impart education here similar to Kerala standards. This is not a 100 per cent trafficking case. If you look at the society here, there is a lot of poverty. You have to look at it from the economic standpoint too," said PK Singh, Member of Godda's Child Welfare Committee.
In the end though, this incident raises more question than answers. Questions about whether the government can stop the exodus of children like these from poverty stricken areas like Godda, and whether these people have any option but to believe the dreams that middlemen and others sell to them about a better future for their children.