Shillong, Dec 4: While the State government sighed with relief that 24 girl-children were safely brought back from a dicey hostel situation in Karnataka, an unlikely situation had developed with the parents who expressed livid anger with the state authorities for bringing home their daughters, arguing that they had no problems at all.
The girls will remain under state government custody till they get untangled from the on-going complicated custodial battle.
Further trouble was in store for the department as it is learnt that after the medical examinations and formal handing over of the girls from Karnataka Child Protection Officials to the Meghalaya Social Welfare Department officials on December 2, there was even a confrontation by the parents of the girls led by some men, allegedly from the Lei Synshar Cultural Society (LSCS) who resisted government’s move, Social Welfare Department sources said.
The unidentified ‘men’ wanted the parents to take custody of the children and take them home. Sources said that it was explained to them that the girls had been handed over to the State Social Welfare Department for collective custody by an order of the Karnataka High Court where the guardianship hearings are still going on. But when they persisted in the row, the police were called to escort the men out of the office premises and after which the girls could be taken to their designated place of safe stay.
Earlier after the official hand-over was completed, several parents were interviewed. Most of them were annoyed that the “sorkar” had dragged back their children from their school where they had been sent to get ‘good’ education and become “well-mannered” persons.
They were angry that the “sorkar” had listened to one complainant in 1098 and had brought back all the other 23 who had no complaints at all. They claimed that food and lodgings were all right and that their children had never complained to them about anything in their hostel or school or hostel. They further claimed that they were taught in three languages, Kannadiga, Hindi and English. They said that the schooling was cheaper and better than they could afford in Meghalaya.
“I’m very sad that my children were brought back like this. My two elder children completed their education from there only. When I asked my daughter who was there, and now brought back, whether everything is ok, she replied, ‘everything is fine’, said Pidi Myrthong, the father of a 13-year-old girl who was one of those brought back from Karnataka.
“So I fail to understand why we are being troubled like this by bringing back our children who were getting good education, food, shelter, lodgings. When the child has stomach aches or cold and cough they provide medicines and care. I heard that there was a complaint. That one complainant should be taken out, not us who have no complaints and find everything satisfactory,” he continued. This family hails from Kenmynsaw village in Mawsynram, East Khasi hills District. When asked if he would send back his daughter given the chance, he emphatically said he would since as he claimed his elder kids had passed out after receiving their education under this programme, one of them, who he said had completed her matric, was sitting next to him in the handing over function.
When it was pointed out that the state governments had said that the hostel was totally unhealthy and that children were given stale food to eat, they had to rely on water from the nearby steam and their living conditions were abysmal, Myrthong said he does not believe a word of what the government has said.
When asked if he had been to the school to find out for himself, he said “No I have no not been there, but I have total faith in these leaders”. When asked ‘which leaders’ he said “ these leaders who are our fellow-parents, we asked each other who had sent their children before us and their experience which is all good,” he said. When asked how they came to learn that there are such schools where they get free education in Karnataka, he said there are leaders (nongialam) from the village itself.
Another parent, Sima Swer from Rymbai village, East Jaintia hills, a mother visibly upset that the ‘sorkar’ had brought back her child on just one complaint. When it was pointed out that the government had said that the living conditions was unhealthy, she said “does the government know, we work so hard, we have 5 children who are in school, their father works night and day to educate the children, why are they saying that they are not getting proper food or water, if so they would complain to us, why would they complain to the Sorkar, why did they bring them back without consulting us,” she asked.
Swer claimed to know that they were brought out of the school after two weeks when she saw the news. She even went to the extent of likening the situation to that of kidnapping the children by the government. “I am very angry”, she said. She said that three of her children had gone to such schools and were now grown up and well placed. The fourth and youngest had been studying there before she was dragged back by the sorkar. She said that children who study there are better behaved than those from the schools here in the district.
A third parent, Junita Nongbet of Nongbah village, Mawphlang, , mother of two girls who were among the 24 brought back from Karnataka had the same opinion. She was upset that her daughters were losing a good chance to complete their studies and had been there since June this year. She said that she had been there and seen for herself that everything was fine. She said that her 22 year old daughter had passed out from there and was now in Rajasthan. She felt that in a hostel the children have to look after themselves and have to do their own work. She said that they have to pay some fees but did not specify any sum even after several questions. She will definitely send her children back when she can. When asked the name of the school, she did not know. She asked her daughter sitting nearby who identified as “P M sree”.
But, officially, the State Government had no choice as it was as per the Karnataka High Court order they had to follow.
Speaking to the Highland Post, Chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Agatha Sangma said that the State government had been contacted by their counterparts in Karnataka about the plight of the children.
The children were under the protection of the Karnataka High where a custody case had been going on between the NGO which was running the controversial hostel and the state of Karnataka. The case originated from a complaint made to 1098, the All India number for distressed children. The caller had complained about the unhealthy conditions of living in the hostel.
“As soon as we got the call, we went to inspect and found the conditions were awful. Children did not have proper beddings, were forced to eat stale food on the pretext of teaching them not to be wasteful, they had to carry water for their use from the nearby stream and the kids were generally sickly,” said Nautaj B, District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) Chikkaballapur District, Karnataka.
She said that they could not communicate with the girls because of the language barrier. The children did not understand any Hindi, English or Kannadiga and could only speak their own language. “So we set up a video conference meeting with three child welfare committee chairpersons from Khasi-Jaintia Hills and the children. The children were asked about their conditions and about life in the hostel after which the situation was understood by the Meghalaya officials,” she said.
She said that an FIR was filed immediately. It was found out that the hostel called Sowmya Kesuwanapalli Free Hostel for Girls, run by an NGO called Aim for Seva Trust did not have any registration and did not have the right to open any hostel, let alone for girls. It was located in Penumala village inm Bagepalli Taluk. It was closed down, she said. She informed that there were 31 girls found housed there, 24 being the girls from Meghalaya, and 6 from Karnataka itself.
The girls were all moved to a children’s home after this, and they could not be moved immediately to Meghalaya and their parents because the Trust filed a writ petition in the high court claiming custody of the 24 girls from Meghalaya opposing the Karnataka government’s intention to send back the girls to their home state. The children (13-8 years) stayed at the Government Children’s Home, Chikkaballapur. It was found that they were sent to that hostel by the Lei Synshar Cultural Society during June 2025, 10 from East Khasi Hills, 7 from East Jaintia Hills, 6 from West Jaintia Hills and one from West Khasi Hills, said official documents.
This case dragged on for some months and was complicated because the parents of the girls had signed affidavits handing over guardianship of their daughters to this NGO trust. “The mothers of the girls signed affidavits handing over guardianship of the girls to the NGO for free education,” the DCPO from Karnataka said.
She said that the Karnataka High Court had ordered that the girls be repatriated to their home state but be kept under the protection of the Government of Meghalaya in the government-run Children’s Girls Home till the children get untangled in the complicated on-going custodial court battle or till the Karnataka High Court gives another order.
