Bhubaneswar: In two separate operations, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) rescued 30 minor children in Odisha, who were allegedly being transported without proper documentation.
The RPF personnel at Khurda Road railway station intercepted 25 minor boys, travelling aboard Amaravati Express toward Bengaluru in Karnataka, on Friday. The children, hailing primarily from Katihar district in Bihar and Purnia in West Bengal, were accompanied by a man who could not produce valid authorisation letters or consent documents from their parents or guardians. He has been detained.
According to sources, the TTE spotted a large group of children seemingly travelling alone and reported it to RPF at Cuttack railway station. Officials verified details at Bhubaneswar before coordinating with the Child Helpline and Child Welfare Committee (CWC), whose members reached Khurda Road to assist in the rescue, guiding the children to the station’s Child Assistance Centre.
“The rescued children belong to Katihar (district in Bihar) and Purnia (district in West Bengal). The minors claimed they were heading to Bengaluru for studies at a madrasa, but the accompanying individual provided no supporting paperwork,” RPF official Gajendra Kumar Jha said.
CWC member Santosh Kumar Mishra added that the persons accompanying the children could not produce authorisation letters from the parents or guardians. We are gathering more information from the children,” CWC member Santosh Kumar Mishra told the media, adding that the minors will remain under CWC care pending verification and will later be handed over to their parents.
In a parallel operation at Balasore railway station, a joint GRP-RPF team rescued five children from Jasidih-SMVT Bengaluru Superfast Express. Acting on specific intelligence about suspected trafficking from Jharkhand for child labour in Bengaluru, authorities intercepted the group. We had information about 12 children being trafficked. After verification, we found five children and rescued them,” CWC member Prashant Kumar Rout said.
These cases will be investigated by the anti-human trafficking unit, sources added.
Earlier On April 18, RPF had rescued 34 minor students, mostly boys aged 15 to 19, from Howrah-Secunderabad Falaknuma Express at Berhampur railway station in Ganjam district. Two youths accompanying the students, hailing from West Bengal and Bihar and travelling to Hyderabad, were detained for questioning. Another 71 children, hailing from Araria district in Bihar, were rescued from Cuttack railway station in two phases on April 15 and April 11 under operation Nanhe Fariste. Those children were allegedly brought to Odisha with promises of free education, food, and accommodation at madrasas, raising concerns about organised networks targeting underprivileged families.
