BENGALURU: Following an anonymous alert of children being trafficked from the Cantonment Railway Station in Bengaluru, a total of 160 children were stopped by the Karnataka police at the station on Tuesday.
Acting on rumours that they were being trafficked from Bangladesh to Kerala, the children were stopped at around 12 noon, when the train Guwahati Express reached the station.
However, guardians of the children who were accompanying them said that the children were not being trafficked, but were returning back to madrassas in Karnataka after Ramzan vacations.
Police officials who verified documents of these children have dismissed the rumours. According to Jinendra Kanagavi, deputy commissioner police (DCP) (Crime), the children were found to be returning back to madarasas in Sagar, Tumakuru, Madikeri and Bengaluru. "Child trafficking has been ruled out," he said.
Abdul Kalam, guardian of one of the children said his 12-year-old nephew was in the group. "The financial condition of my sister is not good back home. So I told her that I will take care of her son's education and admitted him to madarasa," he said.
Kalam who has been working in Bengaluru for nine years said that he was native of Kishanganj in Bihar. "My sister's son was studying in a madarasa in Bihar and he will continue his education in a madrassa in Bengaluru. I have shown my documents to the police and the verification process is still on," he said.