Rescued children lie about their age and hope it's not their kidneys the 'buyers' are after
Rescued children lie about their age and hope it's not their kidneys the 'buyers' are after
The four children rescued by MiD DAY after being 'bought' from touts insisted that they were all above 18 years of age.
Somebody had obviously briefed them about child labour and the age limit. Nanda said he was 21 while Dilip tried to show he was 24. Varun said he was 20 and the youngest, Arun alias Manu Kumar, said he had crossed 19.
Nanda, who seemed to be the leader of the group of four children, was also aware of the kidney racket rampant in Bangalore. He even asked us, "I guess you are not looking for our kidneys."
K N Basavaraju, Child Welfare Committee member, who had come to take them, laughed at the replies. "They are misguided. They have been taught to lie about the age but are not aware of the vicious circle they entering."
Little pleasures
Nanda and Varun smoke while Dilip drinks beer occasionally since someone told him beer increases the body weight. "I have to put on weight. That is why I drink beer," he said.
Nanda wanted to marry his uncle's daughter, who is still in higher primary school. " I want to marry her before anybody kidnaps her," he joked.
He said he knew someone in Indiranagar and planned to take his friends to a hotel there. They had planned to go around the city before going to Indiranagar. The plan was changed when they met the touts at City Railway Station at 4am.u00a0
Though the children were skeptical when the touts asked them to join in. they eventually followed after being promised a hefty salary.
When they were taken to the Balamandira, a government home where orphan and runaway children are kept, they thought they were in the jail. They said, " We believed in you, but you are showing us jail."
They smiled only after being convinced that it was not a jail.
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