As many as 203 children between the age of eight and 13, along with 16 adults accompanying them, were detained for eight hours at Cantonment railway station on Tuesday after a complaint from a citizen that they were victims of child trafficking.
The children and their instructors, who hail from other parts of the country, told the police that they were returning to their madrasas in Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Madikeri and Bengaluru after a month-long vacation.
They were on a train travelling from Guwahati to Bengaluru, and were detained the moment they stepped on to the platform around 11 a.m. after a fellow passenger, Shivananda Naik, accused the instructors of trafficking children.
The Cantonment railway police, city police and members of the Child Welfare Committee visited the children, whose documents were being processed well into Tuesday night. Local religious leaders also arrived at the scene. “The children were kept in the waiting room at the station while we questioned the adults. We served them biryani and dal rice in the afternoon for lunch,” an officer with the railway police said.
Leaders of religious groups later handed out biscuit packets and water bottles for the children while CWC members spoke to them.
It only by 7 p.m. that their story was verified. “After checking their documents, including Aadhaar cards and IDs issued by the madrasas, the children and their instructors were allowed to leave,” an officer said. Local leaders from the community arranged buses for their transport.
Most of the children hail from West Bengal, Bihar and Assam, but study in madrasas in the State. They had gone to their home towns for Ramzan.
