The members of SPSR Nellore district’s Child Protection Unit, Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) and Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) rescued 11 minors from Rayagada in Odisha with the help of Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, at Nellore railway station on Friday.
“The members of BBA identified six girls and five boys travelling in Tata Nagar-Ernakulam Express train no. 18189 at Vijayawada railway station. After receiving the information from them, we deboarded the minor children here along with five mediators, who were sent to remand at Government Railway Police Station,” said Nellore District Child Welfare Officer B. Suresh.
“These mediators are also from Rayagada and they supply these minor boys and girls for work to construction sites in Chennai. They were booked under Section 146 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for unlawful compulsory labour. They have also created fake Aadhaar cards of the children to show that their age is above 18 years. We sent the kids for tests to estimate their exact age,” he said.
Mr. Suresh said that they have admitted the six girls in children home, and the five boys in child and police home. He is also trying to find out their whereabouts and hand them over to their parents. AHTU members Srihari, Satish and Prasad, BBA team Tirumala Rao and Chandrasekhar, and Integrated Child Protection Scheme staff Ratnam, Pavani, Samantha, and Shailaja participated in the rescue operation.
Published – September 13, 2024 09:05 pm IST
