5 children rescued from the clutches of a trafficker in Secunderabad

Hyderabad: The Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) activists along with the police rescued five children who were being trafficked to Secunderabad. The BBA activists received a tip-off that some children were being trafficked from Kolkata to Secunderabad in the East Coast Express. The information was immediately shared with the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP), and Railway Childline. The district child protection units (DCPUs) of Hyderabad, Khamam, Mahaboobabad, and Warangal were also informed. Accordingly, it was decided to intercept the train at Mehboobabad railway station.

Once the train halted at the station, the GRP and RPF teams rescued five children and arrested the trafficker. The children are from Malda, West Bengal, and were being brought to Secunderabad to be employed in roadside juice and tea shops. The trafficker had promised the children meagre wages along with food and accommodation.

The children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and on its orders, they were shifted to a Child Care Institution (CCI) in Hyderabad. The GRP registered an FIR against one Deepu Shak under sections 374 and 511 of the IPC along with the relevant section of the Juvenile Justice Act.

Founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi in 1980, Bachpan Bachao Andolan liberates and rehabilitates vulnerable and exploited children and prosecutes those responsible for the atrocities. In the last four decades, the BBA has rescued more than one lakh children from child slavery. "We have rescued more than 9,000 children from various factories, eateries, and other commercial establishments in the last year. We hope that the government passes the anti-trafficking Bill in the upcoming session of the Parliament," said Manish Sharma, the director of Bachpan Bachao Andolan.