Members of Child Welfare Committee and Child Protection Unit of Malappuram district and Juvenile police unit of Kottakal police station jointly conducted searches at 25 families at Kottakalputhur, a peripheral area of Kottakal in Malappuram district.
During the search it was found that the families, from Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh are living in unhygienic conditions and abuse of alcohol and drugs by anti-social elements is rampant, Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member, advocate Haris Panchily who was part of the team told PTI when contacted.
The families paid Rs 2,000 per month as rent for the narrow and conjested rooms and water in the nearby well is highly polluted, he said.
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Four girls, in the age group of 6 to 12 and who are orphans, were taken by the District Child Protection Unit and Kottakal police and produced before the CWC (Juvenile Justice). The committee ordered for the accomodation of the girls temparily to the Government Juvenile Home at Silver Hills in Kozhikode, Harris said.
During investigations with local people, it was found that the girls were not going to school while the other 20 girls were school children.
The girls were forced into begging and they could earn anything between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 a day per child, particularly during the month of Ramadan, the CWC member said.
The CWC has ordered for a report from the District child Protection Unit and Kottakal police about the prevailing unhygienic conditions at the colony to be submitted to the Superintendent of Police, Malappuram, he said.
