Jamshedpur. Mentally challenged or deaf-mute women living on the footpath often become victims of rape and become pregnant. Sometimes their children are born on platforms and footpaths and sometimes in hospitals. The matter of concern is that these children disappear after a few days. The police-administration or any organization does not have any information about these children being kept in any orphanage, child protection home or anywhere else.
When such incidents increased in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, in view of the possibility of illegal trafficking of children, an organization called Child Labor Mukti Seva Sansthan conducted a survey on it and wrote a letter to the Union Home Ministry demanding an investigation. Taking cognizance of the matter, the Home Ministry has sought a report from the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The ministry has written a letter to the National Secretary of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights asking for an investigation. Child Labor Mukti Seva Sansthan had earlier conducted a survey in different areas of the city in the year 2019. In this, 82 insane women were found pregnant. After a few days, the same women were searched and surveyed again, the results of which were shocking.
It was found that out of 82 women who had given birth, 75 women did not have their child with them. The organization’s convenor Sadan Thakur had written a letter to the Home Minister expressing apprehension that brokers involved in illegal buying and selling of newborn babies are active in Jamshedpur. Under a conspiracy, they are made pregnant in a planned manner and after the child is born, they are sold.
The child was also stolen from the medical college.
There have also been many incidents of child theft in Jamshedpur. In November 2023, a mentally challenged woman gave birth to a child at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Hospital in Jamshedpur. After this his child was stolen. The matter reached the police. Investigation revealed that the woman from Azad Basti of the city had gone to her home with the child. After this the child was recovered and handed over to Childline. Similarly, a case of selling a child was registered on June 12, 2019.