Fifteen-year-old Bangladesh national Sona (name changed), who had been trafficked and stranded in Vijayawada for the last two years, has been shifted to the Kolkata-based All Bengal Child and Women’s Home.
Sona was rescued from an international trafficking racket at Vijayawada Railway Station in September 2014.
The Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) officials shifted the girl to an NGO home.
A team of the WD&CW and Police officials handed over the girl to the Kolkata Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which referred her to the All Bengal Child and Women’s Home. “The West Bengal Task Force, which was repatriating Bangladesh victims in India, will hand over Sona to her parents in a few days. However, we will track the case till the minor girl is reunited with her family,” said Krishna District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) Ch. Vijay Kumar. “We handed over the girl safely to Kolkata CWC. There are a few more Bangladesh women and girls stranded in India. Sona will be sent to Cox’s Bazar district (her native place in Bangladesh) along with them soon,” the DCPO, who was one among the officers that accompanied the girl to Kolkata, told The Hindu on Friday.
Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) enquired about the illegal stay of the girl in Andhra Pradesh and about her repatriation. Information from the A.P. Government was sought over the issue, said an officer.
