More than a corkscrew
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 31 , 2013 -

It seems there is more twists and turns in the case of rescuing Manipuri children from some illegal homes at Jaipur than in a corkscrew.

On March 12 last, in all 51 children, aged between 5 and 17, were rescued from two illegal children homes run by one Jacob John aka Pastor John from Kerala in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Among the 51 rescued kids, 21 were from Manipur and six from Nagaland.

Again, out of the 21 children from Manipur, 17 were from Ukhrul, 3 from Tamenglong and one from Chandel district.

Although the Nagaland Government acted prompt to bring back their six rescued kids when the news of the raid spread, it took almost a week on the part of the Manipur Government to come up with an official statement, that too, just an appeal to all the family members of the rescued kids and concerned public not to be overwhelmed with fear and anxiety and assured that all the rescued children were safe in a State-run Children Home in Rajasthan.

The complete blank-out of the case from giving coverage in some sections of local media, particularly, those related to the districts the rescued kids belonged to, and the complete indifference of the elected local MLAs concerned, who kept their mouth tightly shut over the issue, had also raised suspicion over a possible far more sinister 'politio-media nexus' deep down with 'forbidden talks' of near and dear ones of some influential local media barons having close political connection involved in the case doing the round, though, in a hush-hush tone.

This was not the end to the twists and turns of the case.

Subsequent raid in another 'home' at Jaipur run by one Rajkumari Ronica Robinson, former friend of Pastor Jacob John, that led to the rescue of four more Manipuri children including three girls and boy, gave one more twist to the case when it was discovered that many more children were present in Jaipur as recently as last Christmas, compared to the ones rescued in the operation in March.

The discrepancy came up when one of the rescued children to leave Jaipur showed photographs that were taken at the 'home' sometime around Christmas.

Barring three or four, none of the 30-odd children in the photographs, were the same as those rescued in March.

So, the question of what happened to all those remaining kids in the photographs but were not present at the 'homes' when the rescue operation took place, still remains a mystery.

During counseling, the rescued kids revealed how they were ill-treated and physically as well as sexually abused and the medical examination reportedly confirmed ruptured of hymens in 13 of the 15 rescued Manipuri girls, thus, confirmation sexual exploitations.

However, giving a complete twist to the case, some of the parents and guardians of the rescued girls on whom the medical tests have been conducted are today crying foul, claiming that the hymens of their children got ruptured during the medical tests conducted at Ukhrul district Hospital on April 25, 29 and 30 last and the accused Jacob John aka Pastor John had done nothing wrong to the children.

All these twists and turns seem to have completely overshadowed the case, and more importantly, the plights of the rescued children and others who probably may be still languishing in some children homes in Jaipur.

Is anyone listening?