Guwahati, Aug. 2: The Assam PCC today demanded the state government to bring back the 31 children who had been taken to Gujarat and Punjab by the RSS's women wing, Rashtra Sevika Samiti, last year.

It asked the state government to educate the children according to the Right to Education Act. It also urged state education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to take cognisance of migration of the minor girls from the state to Gujarat and Punjab.

A recent report in a national magazine said while taking away the children, the Samiti violated several national and international laws and guidelines.

The Telegraph had reported the incident in its September 29 edition last year.

Senior PCC spokesperson Bobbeeta Sharma said the children have not been given any formal education. She said in the name of education, attempts were being made to "indoctrinate them with outdated religious beliefs and practices".

Assam spokesperson for the RSS, Ranjib Sharma, told reporters here yesterday that the 31 girls were taken from Chirang, Baksa, Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Goalpara districts.

He said this year, eight more girls - two from Assam, four from Arunachal Pradesh and two from Mizoram - were taken by the Samiti to different states with the aim of imparting education to them.

"The 31 children were taken with a plan. It must have had political support. We have doubts regarding the intention behind taking the children out of Assam. The government should investigate the matter," said Debabrata Saikia, the leader of the Opposition.

Of the 31 children, 20 were kept at Saraswati Sishu Mandir and Halvad in Gujarat.

A team of the Assam State commission for Protection of Child Rights visited the place in June and sent a report to the chairman of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

A copy of the report was made available to the media by the PCC.

"We also met all the 20 girls staying at the institute and interacted with them. The children were in the age group of five-six years and 12-13 years. They were from various groups such as Bodo, Santhal, the tea community and two other girls were from Meghalaya," said the report.

"While interacting with them, we were surprised to observe that most of them had forgotten their mother tongue within a span of a year since their arrival. But at the same time they were very fluent in Gujarati. This is a gross violation of the children's right to identity and study and communicate in own language," said the report.