MARGAO
Expressing concern that people are taking Goa as a place to traffic children for sale, begging, and abandonment, Bailancho Ekvott convenor Auda Viegas on Monday said that the detection of the sale of a six-month-old child at the Margao railway station is not a solitary case and that children are quite often trafficked to Goa for adoption, begging and other anti-social and illegal activities.
Addressing the media, Auda said: “Since they believe that in Goa anything goes, it is the timely intervention by the Railway Protection Force Police Inspector Vinod Mishra and Head Constable Sonali Pawar who found a heated argument between some persons, which stopped the baby from being trafficked for 'adoption' sale.”
She added: “This was followed by action by the S P South and both DySPs Margao and Konkan Railway Police station and the Police Inspector Konkan railway and Team that saw to it that those involved in the heinous deal were arrested.”
Auda has complimented the action of the police who arrested Asif the father of the baby and the agent during the ensuing arguments on arrival by train from Bellary Karnataka.
“Goa is becoming a convenient place for abandoning of babies, deliveries of babies by minor girls who are brought here for their deliveries, a swelling number of rapes among minors, the sale and consumption of drugs by people from across the state borders,” she said.
The women's rights activist said she opined that as there is no check on begging at acrobatics traffic circles, marketplaces or beaches by children. "These infants could be sold before returning to their native places. The women and children trafficked is a malaise that requires action by Child Protection authorities of the State," she demanded.
While appreciating the police action at the Margao railway station, Auda has requested the state to take strict action against anyone in the sale of babies given for adoption and those who do not follow the guidelines mandated by Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).
