Bengaluru Police, acting on a tip off from Ranchi Police, on Monday rescued 16 tribal minor girls of Dumka who were being trafficked to Bengaluru by Hatia-Yeshwantpur train in the name of teaching English to them. All those girls, presently in the custody of Bengaluru police, will soon be brought back to Jharkhand and handed over their parents.
“We received an information that some of the girls were being trafficked to Bengaluru by Hatia-Yeshwantpur train following which we came into action and contacted my counterpart in Bengaluru who, taking a swift action, apprehended all the 16 girls along with the two traffickers,” said Ranchi SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi. Presently, those girls were being investigated by the Bengaluru Police and will soon be sent back to Ranchi who will further be sent to Dumka and handed over to their parents, he said.
“Details of each girl were being recorded by the Bengaluru Police so that the case could later be followed here in Jharkhand,” he said. lauding the persons who shared the information with police, the SSP said that timely information provided to them led to the arrest of the traffickers.
The State Child Welfare Committee has been informed about the incident and was in constant touch with the officials in Bengaluru.
“We have talked to the officials in Bengaluru over phone .… they said that inquiry was being made along with the verification of their documents so that it could be established whether they were minor or major girls,” said Child Welfare Committee Member Meera Mishra.
Mishra said that one of the women, travelling in the same train, had doubts over the activities of these girls, who enquired about them and found that they were actually being trafficked.
She immediately informed the City DSP in Ranchi following which the police came into action leading to the detention of all 16 girls.
Sources in the police department revealed that Bengaluru police raided Hatia-Yashwantpur Express around 3.30 am on Monday, at KR Puram railway station while the train was at a halt and found out all 16 girls on board. Those girls were accompanied by two persons who claimed that they were from an NGO and were taking the girls to Bengalore for skill development. They also informed Bengluru police that they will be sent back to their homes after three months of training.
All the girls along with the traffickers were taken to the Barsinagar police station where an FIR of non-cognizable offence of human trafficking was lodged against the two.