71 kids disembarked from train on suspicion of trafficking

Later it was confirmed that they belonged to a madarsa in Hubli

The 71 children of a Madrasa in Hubli who were disembarked at the railway station in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.— Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

In a case of miscommunication and lack of proper identity papers, 71 children aged between 8 and 12 years were disembarked at the Visakhapatnam railway station from the Vasco da Gama-bound Amravati express.

The children were headed to a madrasa in Hubli in Karnataka from Howrah, when they were disembarked along with five accompanying instructors by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the representatives of the District Child Protection Unit and the Childline. All the children were from the backward districts of Bihar and West Bengal.

Talking to The Hindu , District Child Protection Officer A. Satyanarayana said that the Childline had received a call on the toll-free number 1098 from a passenger from Vizianagaram informing that a number of children were being transported in the train.

“Basing on the call, we boarded the train in Visakhapatnam along with the RPF officials and found that 71 children were indeed being taken to Hubli. On questioning, the instructors accompanying them said that they were being taken to a madrasa in Hubli after summer vacation,” said Mr. Satyanarayana.

The instructors did not have any documents or ID cards and that had given rise to suspicion that the children were being trafficked, said an RPF officer.

But later, the Childline and the District Child Protection Unit coordinated with their counterparts in Hubli and obtained a confirmation that the children belonged to Madani Mia Arabic College.

“We also spoke to the RPF officials at Hubli and they confirmed that the representative from the madrasa had come to the RPF office and assured them that the children belonged to the madrasa,” said Ms. Mary of the Childline.

The children will proceed to Hubli in a train late on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning in a special coach. We are negotiating with the commercial department of the East Coast Railway to provide the coach. They will be accompanied by three representatives from the Childline and the District Child Protection Unit, and will be handed over to the representatives from the madrasa at Hubli, said Abdul Raqueeb, Member of Child Welfare Committee.