Seema (name changed), 18, cried tears of joy as she stepped down from the train at Ranchi Railway Station on Monday.
Trafficked six years ago, Seema was rescued around a year ago and since then she had been staying at a shelter home in Delhi. Returning to her home state after six years was overwhelming for her.
A resident of Simdega district, Seema was trafficked by a local agent when she was 12, who promised her good wages for her few hours of housework. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and Seema was not paid a single penny for her five years of hard work. After five years she was rescued and since then had been living in a shelter home.
Like Seema, 19 other children who were trafficked to Delhi or NCR at some point of their lives were brought back on Sunday by a special team of Jharkhand State. The team comprised of 10 police personnel, both male and female, a doctor a child protection officer and a member of Ranchi Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Of the 10 children brought back, 16 were girls and four boys. These children were from Gumla, Simdega, Ranchi, Khunti, Palamu and Latehar.
Chairperson of CWC Ranchi, Rupa Kumari said, “We were able to bring the children back with the help of State government. Now that they are back to Ranchi we would be writing a letter to the district child protection officers of their respective districts to come over and take the children. Accordingly, home verification will be done and the children will be rehabilitated.”
Director of Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) DK Saxena said, "Bringing children back from other States will now be a regular practice. We are not going to let our children languish in other States."
The children brought back were staying in 11 different shelter homes of Delhi and NCR for different time durations, right from two months to six years. These children were identified by Jharkhand’s Integrated Rehabilitation and Resource Centre (IRRC) in Delhi with technical support by Save the Children.
Divya Tigga, project coordinator, child protection at Save the Children said, “We helped the IRRC with the ground work of visiting shelter homes, identifying children of the State and issuance of escort orders. We also provided a hygiene kit to each child that included around 12 to 15 items like soap, comb, lotion, towel, sanitary pad for girls and also education related matter like books, notebooks and pencils.”
A total of 37 children were supposed to be brought back from Delhi in this trip but 17 were not released by the CWC Avantika.
Rupa Kumari said, “The CWC there claimed that there were technical issues and procedures to free the children were not completed. We are going to write a letter to both National and State Commission for Protection of Child Rights informing them about this non-cooperation from CWC Avantika.