ATM withdrawal leads RPF to runaway teen

KOLKATA: The rescue of a 17-year-old girl from Howrah station on Thursday by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) was not without drama. The girl had been shuttling between Howrah and places like Bandel and Sheoraphuli for nearly two days, before she could finally be traced through an ATM transaction.

Senior divisional security commissioner (Howrah), RPF, Rajnish Kumar Tripathi said, “A lot of effort went into the rescue. When we got information from Assam Police about the runaway teenager, an RPF inspector managed to identify her at Bandel station. She was also spotted at Sheoraphuli.”




Since then, the officer kept the girl’s father updated about the efforts to track her down. On Thursday, the girl withdrew cash from an ATM at Howrah station, which triggered an alert on her father’s mobile phone in Dibrugarh. He immediately called the officer and informed him of her location,” he added.

It wasn’t easy to track the girl in Howrah even after the control room was alerted. All personnel were asked to keep a look out for the girl. “Finally, she was traced by two women personnel and taken to an RPF post. Her father flew in from Assam and took her back. At a busy station like Howrah, there was every possibility of her falling into a trap. The RPF busted two major trafficking rackets in Burdwan and Howrah this year,” he said. In one case, the traffickers were attempting to sell a girl for Rs 10,000.

“Despite the difficulties, nearly 250 children are rescued from Howrah station by the RPF every year and handed over to Child Line. Most of them are reunited with their families,” Tripathi added.