Bengal School Principal, Teacher Arrested For Child Trafficking

The racket was unearthed when a local panchayat chief noticed two children crying when they were asked by some people to get inside a car on the school's campus Sunday, an official said.

The principal and a teacher of a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in West Bengal's Bankura district were among eight people arrested for allegedly attempting to traffic five children, police said on Monday. The incident has sparked a political slugfest between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), with state minister Shashi Panja accusing a senior BJP leader of having a connection with the racket, and the BJP dismissing the charge and calling it an attempt at mudslinging "just for the sake of opposition". The racket was unearthed when a local panchayat chief noticed two children crying when they were asked by some people to get inside a car on the JNV campus in Bankura on Sunday, an officer said. The panchayat chief enquired with the car occupants, and upon finding a discrepancy in their answers, informed the locals. The principal, on the other hand, attempted to escape from the area, following which the locals blocked the roads, he said.