With orphanages in Kerala continuing to be under scanner, authorities on Friday decided to send back 22 children from Jharkhand and Bihar staying in an "unauthorised" charity home in Kollam district.
According to police, these children had been brought to Kerala illegally and lodged in an unauthorised orphanage. They would be sent to their home states in the next three days with the government making arrangements for the travel.
The children, majority of whom were from Jamtara in Jharkhand, had been shifted to a state-run children home.
A police team and Social Welfare officials would accompany the children during the journey, police said.
The unauthorised lodging of children, 20 from Jharkhand and two each from Bihar and Kerala, at the orphanage came to light after the district administration and police conducted a joint raid at the institution at Perayam near here earlier this week.
Officials found that the orphanage had been functioning "illegally" and children lodged in unhygienic conditions.
The bringing in of children from eastern states to orphanages in Kerala without following legal procedures has become a major issue after railway police detained over 500 children from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal, who traveled without proper documents, at Palakkad last month.
The issue had snowballed into a big controversy, bringing orphanages run by charity trusts under the scanner. A case was registered and 10 person who accompanied by them had been arrested.
The government had ordered a police investigation in the case to ascertain whether it was a case of 'human trafficking' or it just involved procedural lapses.
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