SPECIAL TEAM HUNTS FOR MAN
Childrens home head faces kidnap charges,absconds
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Nagapattinam: A case of kidnapping and violation of the Juvenile Justice Act was registered on Sunday against the director of a home from where 27 children from Manipur were rescued on Friday,the police said.Henry Einstein (40) alias Paramasivam,who was running the Bethel Development Trust in Akkur Madappuram near Mayiladuthurai in Nagapattinam district,was absconding,police added.
The police said they registered a case based on a complaint from the district child welfare committee and have sent a four-member team in search of Henry.The case has been registered under IPC sections 365 (kidnapping),344 (wrongful confinement),420 (cheating) and section 23 of the Juvenile Justice Act (punishment for cruelty to child) at Sembanarkoil police station on Sunday.By the time the officials prepared themselves to lodge a complaint,Henry was absconding.He is not in the village.We have sent a team to Karaikal where we suspect him to be hiding, said a police official.We wanted to complete the probe before lodging a complaint, said V Venkatraman,probationary officer,district social defence department,hoping that Henry would be nabbed soon.The children,aged between 5 and 12,including nine girls,were rescued from the home run in a rented house at Akkur Madappuram and were sent to government homes at Tiruchi and Thanjavur.Henry,a local,had managed to get contacts through missionary sources and went to Manipur in 1992,where he married a local girl.He then started the trust.Seven months ago,he shifted to Mayiladuthurai,allegedly fearing violence in Manipur.He was attempting to get government approval when the presence of the children came to light.
During the probe by welfare department officials and child welfare committee members,Henry claimed he was not involved in trafficking.The children were left in his custody by their parents,he maintained adding that he had the affidavits by their parents.Henry had also said he had sent a person to Manipur to get those affidavits.
We are planning to bring translators who are well versed in Manipuri from Chennai to interact with the kids and determine if they were abused.After obtaining their family details,we will find their parents through the Child Welfare Committee in Imphal and hand the children over to them, said Venkatraman.
Henrys home had raised suspicion in the locality since the kids were from the northeast.
However,he had maintained he was bringing them up away from their native land infested with extremists.