Shillong: Twenty-four children brought back from Karnataka’s Chikkaballapur district were reunited with their families in Shillong on Tuesday, following a coordinated repatriation effort led by the Social Welfare Department and the Meghalaya State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR).
The children were received at the Directorate of Social Welfare, where officials from the department and child rights organisations formally handed them over to their families.
SCPCR Chairperson Agatha Sangma said the operation was centred on ensuring the children’s safe return.
She thanked authorities in both states for their cooperation and raised concerns over the increasing number of minors being taken out of Meghalaya without proper procedures.
She recalled a similar case reported recently, prompting the Commission to recommend that Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma introduce a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the movement of children below 18 years to institutions outside the state.
The proposed SOP includes mandatory prior intimation to District Child Protection Officers, proper documentation, verification of the receiving institution’s legal status, clarity on the duration and purpose of the stay, medical examinations, and direct communication between authorities of both states.
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Sangma also urged parents to remain cautious, noting that many families were unaware of the names or locations of the institutions where their children had been sent.
Social Welfare Director Camelia Doreen Lyngwa said the department was alerted to the case in August.
Most of the children came from economically weak families whose parents had hoped to provide them with better educational opportunities outside Meghalaya.
However, the Chikkaballapur DCPO later found that the facility where the children were kept was unregistered and in poor condition, prompting their return.
