UTTAR PRADESH: Her life is a mission. For this, she doesn’t mind going beyond the call of duty. Railways’ highest honour was just a small recognition for the work Chandana Sinha, 41, has done in a career spanning over a decade and a half as a Railway Protection Force (RPF) inspector.
Posted in Lucknow, she has been on a rescue mission for missing children and leading a campaign, thereby rescuing more than 1,500 such children of lesser fate across Uttar Pradesh’s rail network over the past three years, earning many accolades, including the Ati Vishisht Rail Sewa Puruskar last month.
The award recognised a system she developed to identify and rescue children at railway stations. Sinha, who led operations from Lucknow’s Charbagh station, developed methods that included officers trained to read platforms, a network of informers, discreet NGO partnerships, and a protocol designed to move quickly and without drawing attention.
In 2024 alone, her team intercepted 494 children, including 41 trafficked for labour, and 152 children were rescued by her personally. Hours after receiving the award, she returned to Lucknow after a report came in that a child was seen alone on a platform.
Hailing from Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, Sinha’s father was a government employee. In her childhood, she was inspired by the TV serial ‘Udaan’ and its protagonist, IPS officer Kalyani, played by Kavita Chaudhary. She wanted to become a cop, and her dream was realised when she joined the RPF in 2010 after years of preparation.
Chandana has served at the Railway Board, trained officers, and has performed desk roles as well. She’s camera-shy, avoids the spotlight, and is a dedicated crusader. “Whatever work is given, I do it fully with dedication,” said Sinha, mother of an 11-year-old daughter.
Her approach sharpened during a brief posting at New Delhi Railway Station in 2022, when she spent two hours searching for a woman and her three-year-old son lost in the Chhath Puja crowd. She found them on a bench, unharmed, and later said the search changed what she looked for.
In June 2024, she was asked to lead Operation ‘Nanhe Farishte’, Indian Railways’ child rescue initiative. Her unit, mostly women officers, began intercepting children on trafficking routes from Bihar to Punjab and Haryana, with many aged between 13 and 15 and travelling with strangers.
In 2025, her team rescued 1,032 children, including 39 trafficked for labour and a six-year-old girl. Senior divisional security commissioner Devansh Shukla said her methods became a model. “She’s built a team that works on familiarity — not surveillance, but presence. Officers who know what to look for. Informers who know what to say.”
Chandana Sinha’s rescue operations have a method. She says it often begins without a tip and instead relies on observation. “A child sitting alone. We notice the mismatch — between the child and the company they’re in,” she says, adding that it could take hours to speak to a child after interception, as some stay silent and others repeat a script.
Citing a case, she narrates that a 15-year-old girl ran away with a man twice her age, and he fled, leaving her behind as they were intercepted and the questioning began. It took hours to persuade her to go to the Childline centre.
Much of the work fell outside the RPF’s original mandate, which focused on railway property and passenger safety, but under Operation Nanhe Farishte and the anti-human trafficking initiative, Sinha’s team worked with NGOs and district authorities and built records that often outlast a single journey.
“Most RPF units weren’t designed for this kind of work. But Chandana has prioritised it. She’s taken ownership in a way that’s rarely seen,” said Deshraj Singh, project coordinator at the Association for Voluntary Action, part of Bachpan Bachao Andolan.
Moved by serial as a child
In 2024 alone, her team intercepted 494 children, including 41 trafficked for labour, and 152 children were rescued by her personally. Hours after receiving the award, she returned to Lucknow after a report came in that a child was seen alone on a platform. In her childhood, she was inspired by the TV serial ‘Udaan’