Kolkata, July 10 2024-
Nine children and two adults were rescued, and a trafficker was arrested from a railway station in Jharkhand’s Pakur district on Tuesday, the police said.
On-duty Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel saw some children and two adults roaming at the corner of a platform of the Pakur railway station at around 1:35 p.m., they said.
“During interaction with the children, they admitted that they were being taken for work to Kalyan in Mumbai. With the help of the children, we caught the trafficker,” said Kausik Mitra, Chief Public Relations Officer, Eastern Railway.
The accused has been identified as Shamed S.K.
The RPF team swung into action and questioned Shamed S.K., who could not provide a satisfactory reply about the children and the two adults, Mitra added.
The accused was immediately detained and taken to the RPF post in Pakur along with the children and two adults, he said.
The RPF personnel then contacted the parents of the children.
While some of them did not respond, others didn’t seem prepared to provide any information.
Finally, the parents of the children were handed over to the Jan Lok Kalyan Parishad, Baliharpur, Pakur, after clearing all legal formalities.
The children will receive care at this centre until they can be sent back home.
Shamed S.K. has been handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP) outpost at Pakur under the Government Railway Police, Barharwa, for legal proceedings.
A case has been registered against the accused under the Railways Act.
Though Pakur is in Jharkhand, it is in close proximity to the India-Bangladesh border that passes through Murshidabad in West Bengal.
The area is a hub of human trafficking, both from across the porous border with Bangladesh as well as from districts like Murshidabad and Malda in West Bengal, a senior police official said.
Normally, children are trafficked to locations like Mumbai and forced to beg outside places of religious worship, he added.
At the end of the day, their earnings are taken away, and they are herded into shelters for the night. (Agency)
