Hyderabad: Cracking down against human traffickers at railway stations, Secundrabad’s Railway Protection Force (RPF) rescued 25 children who were being trafficked from West Bengal and Odisha and detained 10 traffickers.
The children who were in the age group of 12 to 17 years were meant to be employed in small-scale industries in the city.
As part of Operation Action Against Human Trafficking (AAHT), RPF-Secunderabad personnel in collaboration with an NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan rescued the children who were traveling by the East Coast Express.
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“The RPF escorted the train and conducted searches between Vijayawada and Warangal stations and rescued the children,” said Debashmita C. Banerjee, senior divisional security commissioner, Secunderabad.
Rescued children, who belonged to different states, have been provided shelter in a children’s home in Hanamkonda while the BBA team will follow up with the CWC and DCPU Warangal for further rehabilitation of the rescued children.
This operation is part of the drive by the BBA and the RPF to make the nation child trafficking free.
In May 2022, the BBA and the RPF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a common goal.
Both RPF and BBA pledged to work together to share information, build the capacity of RPF personnel and railway employees to work against human trafficking, increase sensitization and create awareness and also help each other in the identification and detection of such cases.
Considering how often the traffickers use the well-networked Indian Railways as the cheapest, fastest, and most reliable carrier to traffic thousands of vulnerable women and children every year, this drive has been fetching great results.
Talking about the dark world of child trafficking and child labor that continues to mar society and the various issues that crop up while dealing with child traffickers, the director of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Manish Sharma said, “In spite of having very strong laws to protect children from all kinds of exploitation and child labor, people continue to employ underage children in commercial activities and exploit them.”
“These are serious crimes and the Union government must enact the Anti-Trafficking Bill at the earliest to curb the problem,” he added.
