CHENNAI: About 3,500 children have been rescued in Chennai Railway district in the last one year, said Georgy George, Superintendent of Police, Government Railway Police, here on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Childline Se Dosti (Friendly) week inaugural function at Chennai Egmore station, to create awareness on Childline and mobilise people for child protection, he said children getting abandoned at railway stations are susceptible for exploitation by anti-social elements.
“Recently, a boy aged 16 was rescued by GRP while they were searching two robbers near Arakkonam. During investigation, we found that the boy had left his house from the neighbhouring district due to a family dispute and was misused by the offenders for their criminal activities,” he said.
He also recalled that of the seven accused arrested in connection with the robbery incident in Cuddalore a few days ago, six of them were children who ran away from their houses for petty reasons in the last one year. “They were brought up by a criminal and used for his activities,” he said.
The GRP has rescued 2,600 children in Chennai railway district in the last one year, while Arunodhaya, Child help desk at Chennai Egmore also rescued about 1,000 children.
Of the total children rescued at Chennai Egmore, more than 70 per cent of them were boys mostly from Southern Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and North-Eastern States, said Virgil D Sami, executive director of Arunodhaya.
“The reasons for girl children leaving houses ranges from low marks in schools to early wedding and elopement with boys. A girl from southern Tamil Nadu who was rescued a few months back said that her mother forcibly put her in an English medium school in Class XI,” explained D Sami.
Earlier, Georgy George inaugurated the child-friendly kiosk at Egmore station main entrance. DSP D Saravanan, Station Manager G Prabakar and other officials participated in the event.