108 children rescued from Kerala-bound train in J'khand

Press Trust of India  |  Dhanbad (Jharkhand) 

In two coordinated raids in Jharkhand, 87 boys were rescued from railway station and 21 children from station, officials said.

This comes less than ten days after 26 girls were recovered from a Mumbai-bound train.

A senior police said that in Bokaro, the boys were made to disembark a Kerala-bound train around noon.

Another group of children, who were travelling in a in the train, were rescued from railway station around 3.30 pm, he added.

Six adults, who were accompanying the children, claimed that they were on their way to a madrassa in Telengana from district, of Police (SP) S said.

"All six of them, including three maulvis, were taken into custody after they failed to produce any document to support their claim," he said.

The SP said the children, aged around 7-8 years, were handed over to the (CWC).

Meanwhile, a senior RPF in said that the boys were in the group of nine to 17 years. While some were scheduled to deboard at Vijayawada, some were to deboard at Coimbatore, the said.

Vinay Ayog, the of CWC unit in Bokaro, said that initial evidence suggested that the children were being "trafficked" out of the state.

He, however, said that the police were still investigating into the matter.

"We are assessing whether government guidelines were followed while ferrying the minors. The police in district have been contacted for identifying these children," he added.

Senior of Police said the 21 children, who were rescued from Ranchi, were being taken to

"The police would able to give details about the case after questioning the six men, who have been taken into custody," he said, adding that the had informed Ranchi childline about the development.

Rupa Verma, the of Ranchi CWC, said all 21 children, aged between six and 15 years, were shifted to a shelter home in the state capital.

On July 5, 26 underage girls were rescued by and RPF on board the Muzzafarpur-Bandra Awadh Express after a tweet from a passenger alerted them to the situation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, July 12 2018. 22:40 IST