11 children rescued from Delhi-bound train in Ranchi

RANCHI: Railway Childline on Monday night rescued 11 minors , including 10 girls, heading to Delhi in search of jobs on Sampark Kranti Express from Ranchi railway station. While the girls hailed from Simdega, Ranchi, Khunti and West Singhbhum, a minor boy claiming to be from Assam was also on the train.

Ranchi Railway Childline coordinator Rajeev Ranjan said: “We found these kids on the train during our outreach activities at around 11.30pm on Monday night.

Some of them were alone, but two claimed to have been accompanied by some distant relative.” This outreach programme was a joint effort of Railway Childline and Railway Police Force.

The children were immediately taken off the train as they were not under parental supervision. “They were scattered across the train. We apprehended them at Ranchi station after we smelt foul play. The girls who claimed to be travelling with a relative also couldn’t identify the person when we asked them to do so,” Ranjan added.

Sampark Kranti Express is one of the 12 identified trains to New Delhi used by traffickers, said an RPF official. On Tuesday, all 11 children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee in Ranchi.

CWC Ranchi chairperson Rupa Kumari Verma said, “The girls detained by Childline are definitely re-trafficking cases. In our preliminary exchange with the girls, we discovered that a few of them have already spent some time in Delhi. One among the ten was operating as the agent for the recruitment agency and was taking the girls to Delhi.”

About the Assam boy, she added, “He claimed to have fallen asleep and accidentally reached Ranchi on a train from Assam as per his recorded statement with us. We will try to reconnect him with his parents soon.”