At least fourteen Jharkhand minors – 12 girls and two boys – forced to work as domestic helps in posh localities of the national capital, returned to Jharkhand by train on Wednesday after the State Resource Centre in Delhi and concerned Child Welfare Committee (CWC) issued an escort order for the children staying at a shelter home in New Delhi, representatives of NGOs involved in the operation said.
After landing in Ranchi, the children were sent to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for counseling, said police, adding that all the children were trafficked to New Delhi by local human trafficking agents prowling the villages of Jharkhand. Bal Kalyan Sangh (BKS), one of the NGOs involved in the operation, said that most of the rescued children were from the rural areas of Jharkhand.
A press communiqué from BKS stated that five of the 14 children are from West Singhbhum, two each from Sahebganj and Godda, and one each from East Singhbhum, Pakur, Simdega and Godda.
Sanjay Mishra of BKS said that cases of child trafficking from Jharkhand have been on the rise after the lockdown restrictions were lifted. Several hundred children are trafficked to the metro cities, especially New Delhi, every year from the far-flung villages of the State to work as domestic helps, he added.
“While they are lured to the metros with the promise of better salary and lifestyle, they often end up facing physical, mental and emotional torture at the hands of their employers and agents,” said Mishra.
Last month, Ranchi police had rescued seven Jharkhand minors from the Birsa Munda Airport while they were being taken to New Delhi to work as slaves there. A woman human trafficking agent was also arrested from the spot and is being interrogated by the police.
Soon after reaching Ranchi, one of the rescued girls said that she was made to wash utensils and do household chores at a house in a posh Delhi locality. She said that she wanted to study and pursue a career of her choice.
CWC officials in Ranchi said that the children will undergo counseling and medical tests after which they will be sent to their respective districts.
As per figures with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), as many as 373 women were trafficked from Jharkhand in 2018. Representatives of Save the Children, an international NGO working for child rights, said that the number of children trafficked from Jharkhand was much higher than what the NCRB claims. Mahadev Hansda, the State Programme Manager for the NGO said, “While we assisted rescue operations in Khunti, West Singhbhum and Ranchi districts, we realized that the number of Jharkhand’s children rescued from New Delhi was nearly 700 per year.”