Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (JSCPCR), with support of passengers of Garib Rath Express, managed to rescue two minor girls of Lohardaga district from being trafficked, early morning on Saturday.
JSCPCR member Baban Gupta received a call on Friday midnight from a person known to him who was travelling in Garib Rath Express. The man informed Gupta that two girls, aged 11 and 13, respectively, were travelling alone in the train, without ticket.
“On interacting with the girls over phone, the girls informed that she was made to sit in the train by one Vijay Singh in Chandwa block of Latehar. They were directed to get off the station at Delhi where someone would receive them,” Gupta said.
The train was at Dehri On Sone in Bihar when Gupta got a call and after three hours of coordinating with railway police and Child Line, the girls were successfully taken down from the train at Mughalsarai in Uttar Pradesh at 3:15 am on Saturday.
“The girls had a mobile phone with only incoming calls facility through which the trafficker was in contact with them. The passengers on the train helped us a lot as they took the phone and communicated with the trafficker, who claimed to be uncle of the girls,” Gupta said.
He added, “The passengers questioned him about the girls not having any identity card or tickets with them and the trafficker was forced to send across the aadhar details of girls through Whatsapp, which help us identify them.”
The girls were produced at the local child welfare committee and would be sent to a shelter home in Mirzapur for the time being. “Now that the girls are safe, our aim is to get the trafficker arrested. We have some details which can help the police nab him,” Gupta said. Pointing out the flaw in railways security when it comes to human trafficking, Gupta said that the traffickers’ nexus is very strong, especially on route from Ranchi to Delhi. “It is shocking how young girls are travelling from Ranchi to Delhi without tickets and no one is bothered, including the TTE and coach attendants,” he said.