New Delhi:
The army and paramilitary forces must vacate any schools occupied by their personnel in Assam and Manipur says the Supreme Court.
Lured by offer of free education, 150 children mostly from Assam's North Cachar hills were taken to Chennai and Bangalore.
In January this year these children were found in a shelter in Tamil Nadu after they went missing.
They were allegedly trafficked.
There are similar stories from Manipur as well.
The National Commission of Protection of Child Rights monitoring this case
observed that in disturbed areas schools are often occupied by the army and paramilitary forces forcing students to go outside.
For example this government school in Halflong is still occupied by the army.
Hearing a petition on this issue the Supreme Court has expressed shock and has directed the Centre to vacate the forces from schools within two months.
It has also directed that children below 12 years in the North Eastern states should not be allowed to pursue education outside.
It is ironic that over the last thirty years of militancy in Assam and Manipur, half of which witnessed dramatic military operations, the authorities failed to notice the number of schools occupied by security forces.
While the Supreme Court direction to the Centre asking the army and paramilitary forces to vacate schools in the two states comes as a welcome directive, it's probably a little late in the case of Assam, at least, where militancy is on the wane.