ARARIA, April 18 -- Parents and locals in Jokihat block of Araria district are perplexed after 163 minors were rescued by the railway police at Katni in Madhya Pradesh on April 12. They were allegedly being smuggled by a madarsa cleric who recruited them for his madarsa and then prepared them for various menial work.

The rescued children in MP were bound for a madrasa in Latur, Maharashtra. Fifty nine of such children were rescued in Cuttack, Odisha, on Thursday.

Parents and locals don't buy the allegations of trafficking for work; instead, they reveal realities prevalent in most rural areas: lack of enough government schools, poverty, and a love for religious education. In fact, in Seemanchal, where Muslims live in huge numbers, sendin...