Kolkata, Sep 28 (IANS): The Railway Protection Force (RPF), Eastern Railway (ER), claims to have rescued 95 children from railway premises in September as part of Operation Nanhe Farishtey.
An official said that seven of them were being trafficked when they were rescued by the railway security personnel.
He said that this adds to the list of 658 children rescued in the first eight months of 2024 till August 31. All these children have been handed over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and many of them have returned to their families thereafter.
“The RPF is focused towards protecting children who may be in distress and could fall into the trap of traffickers. Take the case of the 15-year-old child from Sonarpur in the southern fringes of Kolkata. She left home after a spat with her mother and was last seen on September 10 near the railway station. She was dressed in her school uniform,” said Kausik Mitra, CPRO, ER.
Mitra added that her parents, after checking with relatives and friends, got in touch with the station-in-charge and the RPF.
“The parents narrated how they were on the verge of total mental collapse after their daughter went missing. We realised what the parents were going through. At the same time, we were worried about the child,” Mitra added.
He said that the RPF, meanwhile, sprang into action and the photographs and details of the girl were circulated all across ER and other zonal railways through the security control.
“All railway staff received alerts through WhatsApp to look out for the missing child. It was suspected that she had boarded a suburban train from Sonarpur station and travelled to Sealdah. From there, she may have travelled further. The effort bore fruit,” he said.
He added that around 4.30 am the next morning, a ticket booking clerk spotted her at his counter.
“She was trying to get enough money together for a ticket to New Delhi (though no long-distance train stops at Bally station). Bally is in the northern fringes of Kolkata. An RPF team was alerted by the booking clerk and they took charge of the girl. After necessary legal formalities, she was handed over to her parents,” Mitra said.
He said that mobile phones and the internet have brought about several changes in society, both positive and negative.
“In some cases, we find that children leave their homes when denied access to mobile phones, even when they are supposed to prepare for their exams. We have also come across cases where children have been lured with promises of better lifestyles by so-called friends on social networking sites. They have ended up with traffickers,” he said.
He said that at the same time, mobile phones and the internet are helping law enforcement agencies like us to trace children and reunite them with their families. We are making full use of technology to protect children.
Human traffickers are smart though and do their best to move away with their victims from any surveillance launched by the RPF and other agencies. The parents of the girl from Sonarpur expressed their gratitude to the RPF and ER for the quick response that led to the return of their daughter.