KOLKATA: Several children’s homes in north Bengal may be part of the child trafficking network of school teacher-turned-alleged trafficker Chandana Chakraborty who allegedly is involved in trafficking nearly30-40 children thinks West Bengal CID. A secret investigation is on by the CID into the discrepancies in adoption procedures of the homes and their nexus with alleged Jalpaiguri child traffickers, CID sources say. A link has been found between several children’s homes in the region and Chandana. “Several homes in the region acted with Chandana under a ‘give-and-take’ policy’’. Children were exchanged between the homes according to the needs of potential adopters. We are connecting the dots and collecting solid evidence against the children’s homes. Once we get sufficient proof of their involvement in the racket, we will take necessary action on the lines of Chandana Chakraborty”, a senior CID official told Policenewsplus.com Thorough checking is on if children’s homes have valid licences, updated records of children and if they followed proper adoption procedures. The functioning of the Child Welfare Committees of north Bengal districts is also being looked into, apart from Chandana’s nexus with local administrators is also being probed, CID said. Chronic poverty, especially in the tea gardens of Dooars and strategic junction of three international borders of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh make north Bengal not only a hotspot for women and child trafficking but also a transit point of international human trafficking from Nepal and Bangladesh to the Indian and West Bengal hinterland. Several of these trafficked women are forced in to brothels of south Bengal, the largest and most infamous being Sonagachi in Kolkata. ]]>
