Sixty-three trafficked children were rescued in a joint raid conducted by the police and several other agencies at Old Delhi railway station on Wednesday.
The police arrested 23 people in connection with the case and are now trying to ascertain the whereabouts of the other gang members.
The rescued children, all of them boys aged between seven and 17 years, mostly hail from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. It is alleged that they were lured with promises of jobs in the Capital as well as Punjab and Rajasthan.
According to the police, the Satyagrah Express, in which the children and the alleged traffickers were travelling, reached the station around 9.40 a.m. Non-government organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which was part of the raid, said it had prior information about traffickers boarding the train from Raxaul in Bihar.
“Our volunteers kept a close watch on their movements at various stations on the way like Sitapur, Gonda and Biswan,” said a statement by the NGO.
It further added that the information was passed on to Delhi Police Anti-Trafficking Unit and Crime Branch .The raid party comprised personnel from the Anti-Trafficking Unit, Crime Branch and the railway police. Besides Bachpan Bachao Andolan, other NGOs involved in the operation were Shakti Vahini, CHILDLINE Delhi, Salam Balak Trust, Railway Prayas, JVI and Child Protection Group
The accused purportedly revealed that if anyone asked why they were travelling with so many children, they would identify themselves as distant relatives. Seven more children were rescued and reunited with their families.
The other children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee after the raid. These children will be accommodated at the Mukti Ashram, a transit rehabilitation centre of Bachpan Bachao Andolan.
“An 11-year-old boy said he was promised a rich and successful life. All he was told about his ‘future’ was that he would be taken to a big town with better facilities and better opportunities,” the activists said in their statement.
