Thiruvananthapuram:
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.
The Opposition - demanding answers on whether this was a case of 'child trafficking' or 'procedural lapses' -- staged a walkout on the first day of the Kerala Assembly's monsoon session.
Of the 579 children, 120 are being sent back to their homes in Jharkhand and Bihar, while 59 will be sent to Malda in West Bengal.
Their parents have remained tight-lipped on the issue, though most of them have claimed they sent their children to various orphanages in the state for better education and amenities which they could not afford.
Authorities are yet to take a decision on the rest of the children, who are currently under the care of the Child Welfare Committee.
214 children have been handed over to the respective orphanages after valid documents like admission registers and ID cards were found with them.
Justice J B Koshy, Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission, said, "There are many good orphanages which are doing very good work, but there are many which operate only for money and abuse rules."
"Due to a high standard of living, and ample aid from the government as well as from abroad for the orphanages in Kerala, agents have been getting children from outside Kerala to study in these orphanages since years," state CWC officials.
But many see this as an attempt on part of the orphanages to misuse the benefits handed out by the government.
Father Joye James, Chairman of the Child Welfare Committee, says, "Some of these institutions have been declared as aided schools and need a minimum number of children for teachers to be appointed and paid for by the government. So you see a lot of young children being brought to Kerala".
The controversy has brought the issue of lack of transparency -- in the way several orphanages in Kerala function -- to the fore, albeit belatedly so.