PATNA: Acting swiftly on a tip-off, the Railway Police Force (RPF) along with the state police rescued 17 minor boys from human-trafficking at Saturday in Bihar’s Bagaha railway station.
The boys-aged between 8 and 14, were being trafficked to Punjab’s Amritsar from Darbhanga in the 15211 Jannayak express train to employ them as child-labourers.
Confirming this, Inspector General (IG) of RPF in East Central Railway (ECR), Ravindra Verma said: "Among 17 rescued boys, nine were being trafficked from different villages of East Champaran, four from Muzaffarpur and four from Nepal’s villages to employ them as child-labourers".
However, the traffickers managed to escape when the rail police raided the coach of Jannayak express at Bagaha. "All the 17 rescued children were handed over to Child-Line at Bettiah for further necessary action after proper verification," Verna said, adding that more than 100 children were rescued in the last eight months.
The railways had also recovered more than 200 children, who had fled from their homes since January to August this year.