Itanagar, March 25: Unable to bear the rigorous life in a Nepal monastery, the six children from East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh returned home yesterday.
The superintendent of police, East Kameng, Tume Ammo, today said the children had confessed to having fled Phuntsok Choeling monastery in Kathmandu where they went to study, on February 14 to escape the strict regimen there.
“Dipak Sopung, Bano Rangmo, August Kino, Biki Dabo, Vishal Degio and Ajay Richo returned safely to Bana, their native village, yesterday. They said they were unable to cope with the strict regimen at the monastery and fled on the night of February 14 after dinner when their teachers were watching TV. Further investigation is on though it does not seem to be a case of trafficking,” Ammo said.
He said the children admitted to have worked at a hotel in Kantipur village in Nepal bordering India where they were paid Rs 5,500 after escaping through the Kakrabeta area on March 16 and 17.
They returned to Bana via Siliguri and Tezpur by boarding a night bus, he added.
The SP, however, ruled out any smuggling racket operating in the state.
He said Norbu Wangdi of Bomdila in West Kameng district who took the boys to the monastery for studies, also admitted his son to the Nepal monastery .
The other 18 children who went to the monastery along with the six children from the district, are still studying there.
The matter came to light on February 19 when July Sijang, one of the students of the monastery, informed his parents, residents of Bana, about the missing students.
On March 18, the president of the All Aka Students’ Union, Dotto Yame, said that Norbu Wangdi had allegedly taken the children, all below 15 years and residents of Bana Yangsey, to Phuntsok Choeling Monastery in Kathmandu with the consent of their parents on February 1.
Ammo said the boys’ parents informed the police on March 17, almost a month after their children went missing. He said several students from East and West Kameng districts go to Nepal to pursue their studies.
