25 kids rescued, handed over to kin

KAVRE: As many as 25 children who were kept at a house from where they were to be taken to the Ram Dev ashram in Hardwar of India were handed over to their parents on Tuesday.

Apparently, the kids were lured with the promise of education.

Ram Dev Patanjali Yogpith contact office in Banepa had kept those children at an individual’s house on Tuesday.

A joint team of representatives from District Child Welfare Committee, District Police Office and District Women and Children Office handed the children to their guardians.

Four of the kids were from Sindhupalchok, said Women and Children Office Chief Purna Kumari Shrestha.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had issued a directive on Tuesday not to take quake-affected children to any district or country. Hence, the local administration searched for the children and gave them back to their guardians.

District Child Welfare Committee Patron and Chief District Officer Sudarsan Dhakal clarified that as many as 25 children kept as captives in an individual’s house in Banepa by the yogpith were handed over to their guardians. “The Ministry of Home Affairs has directed not to allow any individual or organisation to take children out of their home district, fearing possible trafficking,” said Dhakal.

Neither an individual nor any organisation is allowed to take a child or a woman out of the country without government permission in Nepal.

The yogpith was preparing to shelter as many as 500 quake-hit children from Nepal at Ramdev’s ashram, as per yog guru Ram Dev’s announcement. According to sources, they were planning to take 50 children from Kavre district.

Meanwhile, Kavre Police Chief SP Puja Singh claimed they had rescued the children. “As we came to know they were being held captive at an individual’s house in Banepa, we raided the house and rescued them yesterday,” claimed SP Singh.

Banepa-based yog guru Glubin Taujale clarified there was no contact office of the yogpith in Banepa.