Nurse held for child trafficking: Vijayapura Police

Vijayapura police have arrested a nurse for her alleged involvement in child trafficking, officials said on Tuesday.

The accused nurse, identified as Jayamala Patil, gave custody of two children to two different households on last week, bypassing the procedures laid out by the government and with an intention of trafficking them, police said.

Superintendent of Police, Vijayapura, HD Anand Kumar said that the arrest was made based on a complaint lodged by Childline, a child protection helpline.

“During the investigation, we found that she (the nurse) was raising young children illegally and giving them to people without due process. We found that she was to get orphaned children and give their custody to people,” he said.

According to police, Childline officials found that two children — one three years old and the other just 11 months old — were kept in two households in the district. These two children were orphans and were kept with two women appointed by the Jayamala.

The Childline staff later took the two children into their custody on Sunday evening, police said.

Sunanda Vasudev Tholabandi, a Childline officer, said in her complaint at the women’s police station, “We found that Jayamala has employed two women in two separate houses in Athani Galli and Darbar Galli to take care of a three-year-old child and an 11-month-old baby. After searching these houses, we found the children, who were being cared for by women appointed by Jayamala for a monthly payment of ₹3,000. We took custody of both the kids.”

According to police, they are questioning the nurse to ascertain from where she got the children and also probing the allegation that she had kept children in custody in a similar fashion in the past.

“We have also got more information that Jayamala has kept many such kids in different places as part of her child trafficking business. Even the two children rescued too were supposed to be given out for money,” said a Deputy Superintendent of Police rank officer who didn’t want to be named.

“We have found out that Jayamala worked as a nurse in a primary health centre in Jigajinagi in the Indi taluk and has been involved in such activities for years. It looks like she is involved in helping childless couples adopt babies by illegal means but we are still investigating the case,” said Kumar during a press conference.