Eighteen boys, who were on their way from Ranchi in Jharkhand to a madarasa in Tiruvarur district, were rescued at the Salem Railway Junction for want of valid documents here on Thursday.
When the train was nearing the junction at 8 a.m., the TTR informed the Railway Protection Force (RPF) who rescued the children.
The District Child Protection Unit and Childline 1098 were informed.
All the children, 13 from Jharkhand and five from Bihar, were aged less than 16 and were travelling with a guardian.
They were on their way to the madarasa at Eravancheri village in Kudavasal.
Since the second phase of ‘Operation Muskaan’, a campaign to trace and rescue missing children is on, officials asked the children to show them their travel documents.
However, the guardian said that children possessed only their Aadhaar cards. The children were taken to RPF office outside the junction.
As news spread, members of Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam gathered and demanded their release. They said that children had completed their first year study and went to their native for 40-day Ramzan holiday and were returning to the madarassa for their second year course.
Later, officials said their DCPU counterparts would be asked to check with the madrasa and the children would be let off.After confirmation with the madrasa, children continued their journey with police protection.
