Imphal, September 09: The miseries of poverty have many stories to tell.

It happened to Hyderabad girl Ameera more than ten years back when she was sold off as a child bride only to be rescued after an alert Air India air hostess blew the lid off the story fabricated by the old rich man to whom she was sold off by her poverty stricken families.

These things do not happen only in other states but here too.

Stricken by poverty, parents of four little children had sent their children to some Punjabis to be employed as domestic helps outside the State.

The children were �rescued� after they had boarded a flight for Calcutta at Tulihal airport today, police said.

The four children, with innocence written all over their faces are Munu Begum (11) daughter of Bimol Shah of Bon Tarapur Cachar and presently staying at Golapati, Thoibi Begum (11) daughter of Shamshu Janah of Bon Terapur and presently staying at Golapati, Leina Begum (14) daughter of Md Wahid Ali of Borayanbi and presently staying at Golapati, and Rahamani (12) daughter of Sirajjuddin of Borayanbi and presently staying at Golapati.

The �prospective employers� who were supposed to take the children are identified as Dr Harbhajan from Chandigarh and presently staying at Thangal Bazar, Kuldip Kaur, Saran Pal and Surjit Singh.

The children and the �prospective employees� had boarded the fight (IC�714) when one of the father of the children, Shamsuddin Janab approached the security personnel of the airport.

The four people along with the children were then made to deplane.

Singjamei police was informed the incident.

At the police station, Kuldip Kaur told reporters that the children were being taken to provide domestic help to her sister�s family as she (the sister) had just undergone an operation.

She said it was with the consent of the parent that they had �employed� the children.

A sum of Rs 1000 each have already been paid to the parents, she said.

The main contact in the sale of the girls is a 50 year old woman, Haliman, who works as a domestic help at the house of a Punjabi near Kali Mandir, Khoyathong.

She was instrumental in the �transactions� of two of the four children.

However she denied any involvement in the case of the other two children.

A mother of one of the children who was held by irate members of the Golapati JAC told reporters that she received Rs 1000 as advance from a woman identified as Manju.

The money changed hands through Haliman who was the contact person.

The mother of another child Thoibi, Ibemcha alias Huneirana said that she sent her child to Manju today after she came into contact with Haliman.

Ibemcha said she was promised a monthly sum of Rs 300 for the service rendered by the child.

She said poverty had forced her to send her child as a domestic help.

According to Haliman some children including her child were sent outside the State as domestic help for a certain fee some years back.

She said that she receives no commission or any monetary consideration for contacting the prospective employees.

She merely contacted the parents on behalf of the employees.

Golapati people recounted that a young girl who was sent as a domestic help outside the State came back after she contracted AIDS.

The JAC informed that parents of the children and the others involved in �recruiting� the children as domestic help would be expelled from the area.

A spokesman of the JAC asked the people not to send Muslim women as domestic help to Punjabi families and others residing the bazar areas.

The Kangleipak Muslim Chanura Development Organization has severely condemned the attempt to send young girls outside the state as domestic helps.

Its secretary Tashida Begum appealed to the people not to easily let off the people but to investigate the matter in depth.

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